Traffic warning: Speak out against the Castle Hill project now

Published: May 16, 2024, 3:15 p.m

To the editor:

There are many serious problems with Castle Hill Real Estate’s proposal to build an extremely dense residential complex on 52 acres of undeveloped, prime forest right in the center of our city.

If this massive project is approved, the bulldozers will move in and losses will mount. Loss of habitat as the hillside is cleared, bulldozed and redeveloped to accommodate 117 new homes as well as driveways, sidewalks and access roads.

Loss of life-giving green shade as hundreds of trees are felled. Loss of native birds and wildlife displaced when their homes disappear. Loss of wetland protection and loss of biodiversity. Loss of historical and archaeological sites waiting to be explored.

Another inevitable consequence will be increasing traffic congestion. Don’t be fooled into thinking that vehicular entry and exit occurs somewhere along Castle Hill Road (even though it is marked as No. 20 and No. 60 Castle Hill Road on city maps).

Instead, the single access point for all cars entering or leaving the Castle Hill Real Estate development will be on Johnnie Cake Lane, halfway up the Mt Pleasant Road hill, just a short distance north of the flagpole.

We all know what traffic looks like during “normal” rush hour, when cars and trucks are jammed all the way to the top of the hill and beyond. Added to this is the all-too-common traffic jam that occurs in either direction when an accident occurs on I-84 or I-95. Imagine the daily impact of adding 100 to 200 more cars to this terrible mix as the people living in these 117 new luxury properties drive in and out of Mt Pleasant Road to get to and from work to come home and just go about their daily tasks.

It won’t be pretty. At the very least, there will probably need to be a new traffic light to give them space to cross. The rest of us will continue to crawl through the city as the line of cars grows longer. We might as well forget about ever turning left at the flagpole again!

If any or all of this bothers you, now is the time to speak up. Attend the Borough Zoning Commission public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, May 22 at 7 p.m. at Newtown Middle School and share your concerns with commission members. They sincerely want to hear your opinion.

Dottie Evans

New city

A letter from Dottie Evans.