To the Editor:

To the residents of Newtown: please attend the Planning & Zoning meeting on April 7 at 7 pm at the Community Center in Fairfield Hills. On the docket is discussion for the proposed truck warehouse at exit 9, in the wooded area at the corner of rte. 25/6, and beside the east ramp for I-84. At first glance this might makes sense as a 70 bay trucking facility near I84 until you realize the Impact this will have on our lovely Newtown.

The green buffer zone of wetlands will be gone. The facility will take up close to an acre, plus all the surrounding parking and driveways. These plantings serve the purpose of filtering the pollution coming off I-84 as well as the heavily traveled rte. 25. The facility will accommodate about 70 trucks, but that is only at one time; there will be more, as well as service trucks, throughout the day.

A significant portion of those trucks will proceed on rte. 25, carrying even more traffic through the center of town and down the already packed rte. 25 south. This will bring even more pollution through the surrounding areas in a state that is one of the more heavily polluted on the east coast.

The safety of the residents will be more at risk, not only from the pollution, but also from the increased traffic which will surely lead to more stalled traffic as well as accidents. What about the back ups at Exit 9. What happens when there is a fire, flood or collapse in that area? How will that be handled?

The tax break for residents will not be significant. At some point, Newtown will have to have more police, perhaps leading to a paid fire and ambulance departments; this would knock out any tax break.

This does not even begin to cover the damage to the charm of the town.

Please attend, if you cannot attend, please send an email or letter to P & Z. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sherry Bermingham

Newtown

Editor's Note: This meeting has been relocated to Newtown Community Center.