This is in regards to the "Coast Guard museum new look," (Aug. 1). It is amazing to me that this museum proposal has been allowed to come this far without an intervention of common sense to stop this ill-advised monstrosity.

Not long ago a developer was stopped on a Bank Street renovation because his proposed demolition and replacement project was not in keeping with New London's historic look. Yet suddenly it is OK to build a four-story glass cube in the historic waterfront district that may fit Hartford's office building architecture but is completely out of place here.

The one-third acre site is inadequate and would not meet the zoning for a small house lot, let alone a building of this magnitude. The architect's sketch clearly demonstrates how foolish this site is with railroad tracks and train power cables adjacent to the building. Coupled with the fact the structure would be in a hundred-year flood plain, no available parking, need for a $20 million bridge at the taxpayers’ expense, and the acquisition of an additional one-third acre that is mostly submerged land, makes the overall concept a really dumb idea.

This project does not need an environmental study. What it really needs is a new site and a new design.

Dan O’Donnell

Groton