To the Editor:

I recall a Newtown Bee headline at least 20 years ago that read: “We Can Make Newtown The Next Paramus!” — quoting a visiting New Jersey builder.

The story focused on the same property where Wharton Equity Partners wants to erect a 345,000 square foot warehouse. If it’s allowed to be built, it would be a major step toward “Paramus-izing” Newtown … something that the zoning board in town seems to be intent on accomplishing in the name of “progress!”

It’s a proposition that must be denied.

What’s Paramus? A town in New Jersey. Like Newtown, it was once a bucolic and lovely farm community. It supplied fresh produce and dairy products locally and to New York City about eight miles away. I grew up nearby and recall riding horses through woods where George Washington’s army had camped. We’d drink water from a spring his army had used, fished in the ponds, bought fresh milk, apples, corn, eggs … you name it — from farms — that are no longer there.

Today, the rich black farm soil is covered with asphalt and cement. Major shopping centers cover the fields. Traffic on the roads and highways is almost always at a standstill, and you can sit in a traffic jam anytime of the day or evening. The air is always polluted. While Washington’s Spring is still there, no one dares drink!

Newtown has also changed since we arrived. Not all the changes have been good. Change is inevitable in any town. The changes that are permitted need to support, preserve, and protect the health, well-being, and lifestyle of the people who’ve chosen to live, raise their children, and support that community.

The Wharton proposal does none of the above.

Does anybody in Newtown really want more truck and car traffic? The number of trucks and cars on our roads will increase dramatically. More delays on Main Street? Anybody want that?

Pollution will increase from more cars and especially from hundreds of diesel trucks, a major carcinogen. Need more? I think not! We already get plenty from Route I-84.

Oh, yes, covering the property with asphalt and cement means killing thousands of trees that absorb much of the CO2 from I-84, and produce thousands of tons of pure oxygen every year.

Is that really a good idea? The parents of the kids attending the school across the road from this site I’m sure know the problems it’ll bring. As should all residents up and down Mt Pleasant Road.

Think about it! Who in Newtown needs a warehouse with all the problems it will create? No one!

If that property were devoted to some type of business, medical facility or function that would add true value to residents of our community, then go for it. The Wharton proposal must be defeated. Newtown is not yet Paramus ... thank God!

Don Hammalian

Newtown