Costco in Guilford? Here is the real story:

Costco will not save you time. The traffic congestion caused by adding 1.5 million car trips per year on a two-lane road, the only non-Interstate east-west artery in Guilford, will not save anyone time. It will take school buses longer to get home, longer to drive children around, longer to get ambulances to the ER, more hassle to go anywhere.

Costco will not be a tax windfall for Guilford. It will not help pay for a new high school. It will not generate $500,000 per year. Costco doesn’t pay that much anywhere in CT. It will not even help control taxes. Big box retail is the most inefficient and costly type of development.

Costco will not generate net local jobs. Many local jobs will be lost when stores go out of business. It is important to remember that the average wage reported by Costco includes upper management, and those employees are brought in from elsewhere. In fact, many of the jobs Costco will offer will not be local hires. Also, Costco does not hire teenagers (under 18).

Costco will hurt local charities and school sports activities. Many Guilford charities and school sports teams benefit regularly from the generosity of local merchants. Costco will not provide that support. If the local merchants are forced out of business, the support will be gone.

Costco will ruin the viable local economy of specialty stores. Some people claim that Costco will not hurt local stores because they sell everything in bulk. This is simply not true. They sell single appliances, small packages of meat, and hot rotisserie chickens, just to name a few items. With the loss of just a couple of key stores, the Guilford Green would start to look like a ghost town.

Want to do something about it? You can!

• 1. Attend, ask questions and/or present your views at the PZC Public Hearings. See new schedule below. All hearings begin at 7:30 pm in the Community Center.
  • Hearing #1 – October 27 – for Costco presentation, questions by PZC/public, fiscal study available
  • Hearing #2 – November 17 – Presentations by Town Boards/Commissions & staff, questions by PZC/public, traffic & gravity studies available
  • Hearing #3 – December 1 – GCRD presentation, questions by PZC/public, pros and cons from public
  • Hearing #4 – December 15 – Continued pros and cons from public
  • Hearing #5 – January 5 – Costco rebuttal
• 2. Write a letter to PZC Chairman Ray Bower at planning.zoning@ci.guilford.ct.us and send a copy to First Selectman Joe Mazza at mazzaj@ci.guilford.ct.us before October 27
• 3. Write a letter to the editors of local papers. See How You Can Help tab for details.
• 4. Make a contribution to GCRD to help pay legal costs. GCRD has hired a land-use attorney and a consultant planner to testify at the public hearings. Expenses could be as much as $10,000. If you can help, please make out a check to GCRD and send it to PO Box 38, Guilford, CT 06437.
• 5. Share this information will all your friends, neighbors, and colleagues!