As a member of the East Lyme Zoning Commission for the last 20 years, one of the things that I have learned for sure is that public input at public hearings is effective and can influence decision-making.

It was surprising to me that when the Gateway developer first applied for a zone change a year ago how few people there were at the public hearing in the high school auditorium. Mostly it was abutting owners who attended.

This is the largest project ever to hit the town. It still disappoints me how few people have attended the recent meetings concerning the same project.

Legally, the input from the meetings is all that the board may consider. I encourage all concerned citizens to attend and participate.

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