To the Editor:

There are serious safety issues that should be considered when evaluating the application to create 40 apartments at the site of the old Inn at Newtown, 19 Main Street.

There are about 55 private homes on Main Street. Those proposed 40 apartments represent an increase of a whopping 72 percent of residences on Main Street. But it’s not the apartments that should concern us. It is the cars that go along with these apartments. The lawyer for the developers admits to an increase of at least 70 cars. And that is where the safety concerns arise.

Main Street is second only to Route 84 for accidents in Newtown. We are creating sidewalks to encourage more people to walk to Main Street, to the library, to the Meeting House, to Town Hall, or the General Store. Adding 70 more cars to Main Street is, to my mind, clearly dangerous.

In fact, not so long ago the police stationed a “phantom police car” on Main Street, at the residents’ request, in the hopes of slowing down the traffic and avoiding more accidents.

And the people who attend events regularly at Town Hall, for example, tend to be members of our most vulnerable groups. The dance school attracts young children, and the Bridge Club, which meets there four days a week and late on Tuesdays, tends to cater to an older crowd.

As for the Tuesday movie matinees at Town Hall, sometimes it seems that all of Heritage Village is in the audience.

Adding 70 more cars to Main Street cannot possibly be the answer. The current zoning at 19 Main Street, three houses, seems best when one considers the safety of Newtown residents.

Laura E. Lerman

55 Main Street, Newtown December 18, 2019