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A Substantial Benefit

On Feb. 7, I attended The East Haven Planning & Zoning meeting at the Senior Center. The main item was a proposed elderly housing development on Sperry Lane. After speaking with the developers, it became evident that there was a substantial benefit to our town in terms of real tax dollars and no impact to services provided by the town or taxpayers.

What I took from the meeting is that an elderly housing development would add no children to our already over-crowded schools and, because the proposal is a private development, the developer would provide trash collection not the town; all snow removal, and cleanup are at the expense of the developer.

I also learned that catch basin maintenance and street sweeping are the responsibility of the developer, not the town.

I saw a beautiful presentation of the project situated on 52 acres of idle land. This is not an affordable housing project subsidized by local, state, or federal government or the taxpayers.

At one point I commented that there was a “need” and a “waiting list” of 2,000-plus elderly for such a development. I was interrupted by someone in the back shouting the wait list was for government funding, the individual was Town Clerk Stacy Gravino (the daughter of one of the board members). I stated that we are looking for a private, well-maintained place to live, not assistance. I was surprised that the town clerk had so much interest in the board’s vote.

Why would the town leaders object to this project? It lessons the tax burden, provides badly needed elderly housing, and creates a substantial economic gain. Something smells fishy in Town Hall.

Lenore Salvati

East Haven

Editor’s note: While the Sperry Lane Planned Elderly Facilities District proposal would require one resident of each unit to be aged 55 or older, it does not prohibit school-aged children from residing in the development.