To the Editor:

My name is Ben Toby, and I am running for the Planning and Zoning Commission in the upcoming election. I have been an alternate on the P&Z since early 2018.

When my wife, Michelle, and I moved to Newtown from California in 2003, we knew no one in Connecticut. My job in Danbury kept us in western Connecticut, but that’s pretty much all we had to go by.

I’m so glad we ended up in Newtown. Driving around town, there’s so much to love about the physical beauty. What I’ve come to value over time, though, is a unique quality of welcome that Newtown possesses. It’s a real community in the best sense of the word.

Why is that relevant to Planning and Zoning? Because we send a message with the type of development we allow. Housing that is friendly to seniors and 20-somethings, family-owned businesses, and strong protections for natural places all contribute to a high quality of life.

Drive-through fast food and passive acceptance of development for its own sake will have us waking up one day wondering what happened to the town we used to love.

Let’s not let that happen. Let’s work together to keep Newtown a welcoming community, where new people can come and contribute their creativity and new ideas. Let’s listen to folks who have grown up here and made this town special in the first place.

If you think my views line up with yours, then I invite you to join me on my Facebook Page, Ben Toby for P&Z, and I appreciate your vote in the election. If not, I will do my best to listen and learn from people who see things differently than I do.

Respectfully,

Ben Toby

69 Alberts Hill Road, Sandy Hook September 30, 2019