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What Guilford Needs

Yesterday’s Courier reported that rather than vote up or down on the Shoreline Greenway Trail (SGT)’s first segment in Guilford, First Selectman Joseph Mazza announced that the Board of Selectmen would hold public workshops so the board can digest the many comments made at the Nov. 1 public hearing and the many letters it’s received.

About 300 people sat through that four-hour meeting, where twice as many people spoke in opposition to the plan as spoke for it: 38 to 19.

We who oppose made it clear that the SGT group has been dishonest in the marketing of its idea and in its attempts to create a route without consulting the residents and business owners who would be directly affected. They have divided neighborhoods, demonized landowners who dared to oppose their plan, and misled and misrepresented others by repeatedly stating that everyone along the route had been consulted and no one objected, which is simply not true.

What Guilford needs is a professional study to assess the pedestrian and bicycle safety needs of our town. Such a study would result in a planned route through town based on the input of experienced planners who put the needs of Guilford residents first, rather than on the rigid vision of a handful of individuals whose dream has been to create a continuous 25-mile trail from New Haven to Madison, regardless of the damage it would do to our historic town and the bitterness that would be its chief legacy.

I urge the Board of Selectmen to give two issues priority in their workshops: the need for professional planners to take over this process and the need to remove SGT from town planning so we can move forward with a transparent and inclusive plan that will improve bike and pedestrian safety in Guilford.

Patricia Klindienst

Guilford