To the Editor:

As residents of Sandy Hook, we sought and have valued the rural-suburban community that we moved to 40 years ago.  Recognizing that change is both necessary and inevitable, we have tried to maintain as best we can the neighborhood character that we have always enjoyed.  Unfortunately, it seems as if this small area, between Exit 10 and Sandy Hook Center, has been beset with an over-abundance of development that is clearly uncharacteristic of our community.

The massive elderly-housing condominium development imposed on our Walnut Tree Hill neighborhood ten years ago was egregious. The added imposition of Edona Commons in Sandy Hook Center was forced by a developer using Affordable Housing regulations to bully our town.  Now, the Sandy Hook community is faced with more high-density housing that is proposed to stand three-stories tall which – to the best of my knowledge – is unprecedented in our town. In addition, there are preliminary discussions pending for an even larger three-story residential complex at 79 Church Hill, extending up the Walnut Tree hillside, virtually across from the large elderly-housing complexes.

So, when is enough enough?  When are the rights of individual homeowners protected as developers seek to maximize profits on every available parcel of land?  When are excessive traffic concerns truly considered?  When are “hard-to-prove-but-obvious-to-all” environmental concerns protected?  As always, monied interests rule the day... and the local town agencies are helpless as long as developers wield the “affordable housing” cudgel.  Something is definitely wrong with this picture.  Are we going to wait until the forested expanse above Exit 10 looks like Mill Plain Road in Danbury?

Jack Bestor

Mary E. Burnham

24 Walnut Tree Hill Road, Sandy Hook    July 27, 2015