When people in Newington describe Cedar Mountain, they describe it as beautiful part of their town.
"It's a huge part of our community and I've heard people say when they come over the mountain, they know they're home in Newington," said Maureen Klett of Newington.
That's why many people in Newington don't want to see Cedar Mountain turned into a mountain of condos. On Monday night, they wasted no time telling the town's Planning and Zoning Commission how they felt. They warned of the damage development would do to what's left of Newington's little patch of open space and what construction would mean for nearby homeowners and the rest of town.
"If we decide to do this development and we decide to bring in more houses, it's going to bring our class sizes up about 20 percent for one single school district," said Joyce Lozinski of Newington.
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"The traffic flow as it is now is pretty crazy, especially at the end of the day when people are going home. Now when you put this development on top of the mountain, it's just going to be mayhem," said Brian Skibo of Newington.
Toll Brothers wants the P&Z Commission to rezone the 28 acres from commercial to residential, so it can build 113 luxury condos. That's the only way it will buy the property for more than $3 million.
"Toll is willing to pay the price we've asked. They're a quality outfit. They want to protect the property. I've owned property since 1967, and I'm interested in making sure the town says viable," said Stanley Cohen of Cohen, Burns, Hard and Paul, the attorneys who represent Marcap Co. LLC, the company that owns the land.
This isn't the last time the public will get to have its say. There will be another public hearing on December 9th.
"Then it goes to the council after that, and they're the ones that would throw the final holy water on the plan," said Thomas Ganley, Vice Chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
With the town council's decision, the people of Newington will know if their neighbors will be wildlife or new condos.
