In his Jan. 21 letter “Will Stifle other Investors” concerning the Costco proposal, Edward Amarante stated that opponents of the project tried to stop the investor from “disposing of the property in accordance with the zoning laws in place now and in place at the time of its purchase.” A point of fact: At the time of the application to the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC), these properties were not zoned for the proposed retail use; they were zoned light industrial. If the current proposal had been “as of right,” the applicants would not have needed to go before the PZC. We fought to have the PZC uphold its own regulations.

The project has now gone before the Inland Wetlands Commission. Again, the applicants have a right to develop the land in accordance with existing laws and regulations, but we do not feel that their application follows these regulations. An enormous retail project is being shoehorned into limited acreage, threatening to degrade the environment and wetlands on and off the site. We are striving to have our town’s regulations upheld.

Elizabeth Dock

Branford