The idea of the greenway trail has always seemed to me to be an incredibly expensive pipe dream. The execution along the proposed route will impact not only Guilford property owners, but property owners from New Haven to Madison. The section completed in Hammonasset State Park is lovely, but it worked because it was built entirely within the bounds of the park, not impacting private property.

The proposed cost of $800,000 for a paved strip 0.7 of a mile long, equates to a cost of $216 per foot. And while the town keeps saying it will not cost us anything (other than engineering work and future maintenance) I don’t think either the state or federal budgets are in any shape to justify the expense of this project, to say nothing of the projected $28,800,000 (a lowball projection based on per-mile cost of the first segment) it would cost to build the rest of the trail.

Many older houses were built very close to the roads before the days of proper setbacks. Paving/chip sealing an additional 10-foot wide trail will reduce the already-minimal buffer between these homes and the traffic.

The greenway committee has repeatedly stated that all the homeowners along the proposed route are in favor of this construction. The fact that a number of people have signed petitions asking the Board of Selectmen to get more information before it votes to recommend referral to the Planning & Zoning Commission seems to say otherwise. At the recent BOS meeting it was decided to table any decision until after the Wednesday, Oct. 12 public hearing. Unfortunately, the selectmen’s comments indicated they intend to vote for approval anyway. That is a sad comment on the value that is placed on the public hearing process.

Lawrence Leete, III

Guilford