What Constitutes

Economic Development?

To the Editor:

I want to thank Kevin O’Neill of the Economic Development Commission for putting forth his understanding and interpretation of what constitutes “economic development” in our town. From the perspective of revenue enhancement, his statistics may sound persuasive, but they are also misleading, narrowly focused, and short-sighted.

As in all political discourse, there is another, more personal and neighbor-friendly side to the discussion which I feel continues to be ignored in the single-minded pursuit of offsetting the tax burden. It has been my understanding that the EDC is charged with considering the impact of such economic development on the preexisting neighborhood. From my perspective, my neighborhood was unfairly marked for commercial development: no hearings were held to designate my neighborhood as a commercial zone, yet a stamp of approval from the EDC as “economic development” opened the door to WPCA approval for sewers.

At this point, I believe that the EDC by defining elderly-housing as economically desirable threatens the fabric of our town. Need I remind you that the majority of these age-restricted condominium developments have and are projected to take place in Sandy Hook, just one of five designated communities in our town. Developers pay well to present demographics supporting their prospective development; taxpaying citizens lack the deep pockets to pay for independent assessments and government leaders lack the political will to use public funds for impact studies providing an unbiased appraisal of the proposed development.

I feel it is time, and I believe The Newtown Bee’s editorial is in agreement, that local government leadership revisit what is and is not considered “economic development”; we need expertise that is not driven by any one particular point of view and will attempt to objectively evaluate the pros and cons of such decisions, both in the short term as well as 30 to 40 years down the line.

As taxpaying citizens, we need our government officials to act responsibly by putting forth safeguards that will protect its citizens from out-of-control development, like the ongoing travesty on Walnut Tree Hill Road.

Sincerely,

Jack Bestor

24 Walnut Tree Hill Road, Sandy Hook                 November 9, 2004