Editor’s note: This letter, addressed to Newtown Planning & Zoning Chairman Don Mitchell, was received for publication in The Newtown Bee.

Mr Don Mitchell:

This letter [is] in response to a certified one we received regarding a July 18 Planning and Zoning meeting. It stated that Covered Bridge Newtown LLC is proposing an additional thirty-unit apartment building with twenty-three extra parking spaces at 9 Covered Bridge [Road]. Since myself and some of my neighbors will be unable to attend said meeting due to a prior commitment, we felt it important to address each member of the P&Z Board.

I’m so tired of writing in opposition of this project, especially when our concerns have continually fallen on deaf ears. Or, should I say, your ears are working just fine, and you simply don’t care.

Since our neighborhood’s opposition to this project has been consistent, of course we do not support another apartment building. That said, I’m not even sure when the initial proposal was approved for six buildings. We were under the impression that there would be five. I’m guessing it was changed to six in a text amendment so that we wouldn’t know.

I am urging you to look into the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD) document. How does this type of development fit with that plan?

Frustrations with the construction alone are only the tip of the iceberg, however, as concerns voiced before the project’s realization have come to fruition. There have been numerous times in the past months that I have seen residents from the one completed apartment building flying in and out, ignoring a stop sign, sometimes when I’ve been in my car, and sometimes when walking with children in a stroller. Maybe a speed bar should be placed at the beginning of their driveway? After all, it hasn’t been just residents, but the builder himself. He came cruising in just a couple of weeks ago, going easily 40 mph.

As I’ve asserted in previous letters, all this ridiculous building is not helping Newtown. It is unaesthetic, unsafe, and unwise financially. Despite being told these projects would be a source of revenue, my taxes are up $1,000 from last year. Please do not approve this additional building.

Thank You.

Janet & Cole McKeown, 10 Hillcrest Drive, Newtown

Debbie & Vern Gaudet, 1 Hillcrest Drive, Newtown

Linda & Tim Nobes, 2 Covered Bridge Road, Newtown

Joanne Knees, 3 Covered Bridge Road, Newtown

Theresa Curry, 4 Hillcrest Drive, Newtown         July 10, 2019