This Thursday, Oct. 29, is our ONE CHANCE TO SPEAK OUR MINDS about this destructive development. Please be there and voice your opposition!
Hearing Details: Thursday, Oct. 29 at 6:00 p.m. at the Walsh Intermediate School, 185 Damascus Road (not the high school as announced earlier).
Try to get there early as there will be a sign-up sheet to speak. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes.
Feeling tongue-tied? Don’t worry! Put yourself towards the back of the line and just say something like “I agree with the previous speakers in opposition.” The commissioners will be happy with your brevity. Or see the talking points below.
We will have little cards of opposition for everyone to hold up – another reason to arrive early – but don’t use that as an excuse not to speak! The commissioners need to hear from you.
Questions? Contact us at BCRD56@gmail.com. We’ll see you Thursday!
P.S. Please focus your comments on the application, not the commissioners, who serve as volunteers.
Talking Points
REASONS TO OPPOSE THE PROPOSED BJ’S DEVELOPMENT
1. This use is not allowed in this zone.
2. The proposal is inconsistent with the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.
3. It is totally out of character with the rest of the development of East Main St. from Leete’s Island Rd. to the Guilford town line.
4. Approval of this application will set a precedent for further such applications, which will ruin the character of this stretch of road, presently low in scale and including two houses listed on the national register of historic places.
5. Traffic and concomitant pollution will increase.
6. Increased stormwater runoff could result in deposition of contaminated sediments in a land trust property and Long Island Sound.
7. The building will not remain a BJ’s forever but we will be stuck with this ugly unsuitable development.
8. Less intense uses can be found for this land; an example is the medical rehab center recently approved for the property across the street.
Did you know? We are finding that a lot of people don’t realize the magnitude of this development. It is more than just a BJ’s. The developers are also proposing a 16-pump gas station, and commercial uses that may include a sit-down restaurant, two quick-serve restaurants with drive-thru lanes and a strip commercial building with a drive-thru. It’s enormous!
