To the Editor:

Every tenement began as some developer’s plan to create congested housing in an effort to line his pockets. Developers Frank Caico of Newtown and Mark Forlenza of Brookfield want to build 40 rental apartments at the former Inn at Newtown. They estimate monthly rent at $2,000 per unit. The $80,000.00 per month income certainly explains their motivation to so drastically alter our beautiful, historic center of town.

We as a town need to consider the deep wound this will cause to our historic and aesthetic landscape. And let’s be clear, this is a commercial business model about to steamroll a small town. Mr Caico is Vice President of Development at Spinnaker Real Estate Partners LLC. Spinnaker is currently replacing a former bank at 80 Elm Street in New Haven with a Hilton Garden Hotel; demolishing a former Comcast building in New Haven to construct 200 apartments; converting a former movie theater in Bridgeport to hundreds of apartments; and embarking on the $26 million redevelopment of two city-owned parcels in Hartford and a $400 million mixed use redevelopment of the New Haven Coliseum! These are enormous commercial undertakings, and that mindset has now landed on Main Street.

Approximately 80 vehicles could be entering and leaving the Inn property daily if two people occupy each of the 40 rental apartments. The number could jump to 120 if you add a third person, such as a driving-age child. Assuming yearly leases, 40 moving trucks could pass in and out annually. Congestion in the center of town could rise to gridlock. And, that only pertains to one property. The next domino to fall could be the current police station. Perhaps The Pleasance would follow or the former ambulance property at the top of Main Street. Will our charming center of town become nothing more than a collection of ugly boxes and traffic? Do we really want Main Street to become Federal Road, or worse?

The Inn was long an asset to the town. It fit the town both historically and aesthetically. Yet, the only proposals for replacement of The Inn have involved unreasonably congested housing. This simply does not belong on Main Street. Main Street serves the entire town. It is where we all come to watch the Labor Day Parade. It is where we all celebrate Halloween, the tree lighting, and holiday house tours. The luminarias on Main Street remind all who pass that we are a small town working together, and not a strip mall anchored by a Hilton.

You must be heard on Mr Caico’s and Mr Forlenza’s plan. There are more appropriate areas for such an intense use than the center of town. This type of development is more befitting of downtown New Haven than downtown Newtown. The Borough Zoning Commission (203-426-4282), Land Use office (203-270-4276), and the First Selectman’s office (203-270-4201) need to hear you do not want this as Newtown’s future. Please take a few minutes and serve your town.

Eric DaSilva

17 Main Street, Newtown September 5, 2019