Elders Can Still Make

Sound Housing Choices

To the Editor:

I would like to respond, or add, to a letter to the editor that appeared in last week’s Bee regarding age restricted, active adult homes and the fact that they add so much to a town’s finances without stressing the town’s services or roads. While I think it is great that these age restricted communities can help to pay for our schools and reduce our taxes, there is another important and very human reason to encourage the development of high quality active adult homes such as the ones GDC has proposed.

I have lived in this town for a long time. I believe I have contributed some things to this town and I would like nothing more than to remain here. But, at this time in my life, my single family home on its larger lot no longer meets my needs and it has actually become a burden. I do not want to move out of town. But, right now, there are very few options for me in Newtown and none that will provide me with the type of home I need to remain here.

I know the town allows age restricted communities. But, they will not allow homes in these communities to have extra rooms upstairs or to have finished basements. Having these extra rooms on an upper or lower level will provide a place for grandchildren to stay when they visit or for a hobby room or home office. I have spoken to a number of my contemporaries and many of us would like to have these type of rooms for a variety of reasons. Some of us must continue to work part time and an extra room for a home office can be very helpful. Others anticipate that such a room could be used to allow us to stay in the home if we ever become so frail that we might need in-home care. And almost all of those I have spoken to have said they want a place where their children and grandchildren will be comfortable and want to come to visit on holidays.

I sincerely hope that the town’s leaders will understand that simply because one gets older (and perhaps unable to maintain a larger property) does not mean that one has become incapable of deciding for oneself where we would like our guests to sleep or where a hobby room should be. It is also very disturbing to hear that a concern was voiced that older people living in an active adult community should not be allowed to have finished lower levels. The fact that a person has become older does not mean that a person should now be treated as either a potential criminal or a mental invalid incapable of making a personal decision, such as how to arrange the rooms inside his own home. That is neither fair nor the right way to treat our own long-term citizens.

Don Casey

19 Valley View Road, Newtown                                   September 5, 2001