NPOA Going To War

To the Editor,

Wow have I become informed. I have recently attended the Newtown property association meetings, and have found out a great deal of interesting facts that I would like to share.

In the early 1970s there was a refused proposal by the town for the installation of sewers to all of the residents in the town at a cost to the residents of one million dollars. Federal and state monies would have paid for the remainder.

Most of the residents in the Sandy Hook area would love to have sewers, and at one time were promised them.

The average cost of an engineered installed septic system could be close to $20,000, payable as services are rendered rather than broken down into a 20-year plan.

We are currently paying taxes for sewers we don’t have.

The aquifer is in danger of contamination by the current and former landfill areas in town rather than density of residences. The only alternative to protect those water sources is to cap those dump sites.

The possibility exists that without capping these sites the drinking water at the Sandy Hook School and the Newtown High School are in danger of contamination by arsenates. Well water in these areas is already testing poorly.

I can protect my children’s drinking water at home, but I can’t do anything about what they are consuming in their lunches and from the drinking fountains at school.

Human waste produces fecal coliform bacteria and can be treated with bleach, which is what has been performed at the Sandy Hook School three times this year.

Builders who are turned down for upscale subdivisions can apply to the state for affordable housing subdivisions and the town has to obey the state and federal guidelines.

Most people who have gone before the Planning and Zoning Commission have compared their experience to having a root canal done without Novocain.

An educated buyer contemplating purchasing a home in this area should be frightened if they plan on upgrading the structure.

Seasonal residences will never conform and will never be allowed to become year-round. So kiss good-bye the retirement investment and the dream of living on the lake year-round. You may even kiss goodbye the structure (“knockdowns”) if it will not meet current codes.

If you purchased a piece of land less than one acre, in an area originally one-half acre zoned, the chances are good that your house and septic will not fit and will not be allowed, and even if the state says yes the town would most likely say no.

The Planning and Zoning department has been telling people that there is no difference between one acre and two acre zoning. Which is correct? However the difference between half acre and one acre is different and it is the half acre zones they are planning on omitting.

This genocide is unconstitutional and we went to war against these policies in 1942, and the Newtown Property Owners Association is planning on going to war again against these same policies, “this time in court.”

The Newtown Property Owners Association is planning on compiling horror stories which will outline the past, present and foreseeable future battles residents have encountered trying to increase their property values, which in turn would have equated into more tax dollars for the town.

That the aquifer is also NPOA’s number one priority and it sounds a bit redundant to avoid the sewers to protect the aquifer.

John Thomas Wheway

34 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                                   March 15, 2000