Stop Lifetime Fitness zoning changes in Stamford that could lead to serious long term changes in your neighborhood and increased traffic congestion

Lifetime fitness is planning a facility in the High Ridge office park. In order to do so, they need to change the zoning. This will open us up for unforeseen changes in our neighborhood in the future. It happens every time. It's the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Additionally, it's immediate and obvious impact on the already-congested High Ridge, Long Ridge and Merritt is obvious. In the last 20 years, High Ridge has gotten more and more congested. And High Ridge at Buxton Farm Road (by Cosi, Acme and Walgreens) is one of the most congested intersections in all of Stamford, made infinitely worse by the chokepoint of the High Ridge underpass that intersects the Merritt. This is the absolute LAST place we should be adding a fitness business that will bring up to 5,000 people from New Canaan, Norwalk, and all points Stamford. The city simply has not created the infrastructure in North Stamford to accommodate such zoning changes  

This development, and others like it that the proposed text change would allow, will be severely detrimental to surrounding residential neighborhoods. (As you know, this text change would affect not only High Ridge Park, but would also apply to the other six C-D zoned office parks in Stamford, most of which are on or near High Ridge Road and Long Ridge Road.) Traffic on these roads is bad enough — horrendous at rush hour, which also happens to be the peak hours for any fitness center, as well — without drawing additional outside visitors which will in all likelihood be coming from neighboring cities and other Stamford neighborhoods  

Relevant to this proposed text change is the fact that Life Time Fitness is much more intensive than a typical fitness center. Other Life Time Fitness facilities around the country provide summer camps, outdoor swimming, extensive athletic events , on-premise sale of alcohol, etc. Experts in the field claim that Life Time Fitness will need to sell over 5,000 family memberships (10,000 individual members), 20% of whom would be visiting the facility on any given day. In addition to the traffic and noise impact on surrounding residential neighborhoods, the adverse impact on our Mid-Ridges non-profits—the Jewish Community Center and the Italian Center—must be recognized here. These non-profits serve our community and depend on member fees and donations to stay open. Life Time Fitness's highly-marketed, multi-function, for-profit business—with its deep pockets and its ability to undercut prices—would threaten their revenue bases and their existence.

We strongly request that you consider the obvious rational arguments against changing zoning for Lifetime Fitness, particularly the impact it will have on small businesses, future unwanted zoning fallout, and your daily commute and free movement in North Stamford. 

Please sign this petition and pass it on to other North Stamford residents for signing.