Incumbent P&Z member prompts primary

Barrett challenging Dem Party nominees

GOSHEN — Democrats vying for two seats on the Planning & Zoning Commission will face off in a primary Sept. 14, according to a notice from Town Clerk Barbara Breor.

Incumbent commission member Cynthia Barrett is challenging party-endorsed candidates Leya Edison and Jeremiah Foster.

The two seats on the P&Z are three-year terms.

The primary will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Camp Cochipanee, 291 Beach St.

Barrett is running as a petitioning candidate after not getting the

Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement.

“I have been in Goshen since 1979, and I was born and raised in Torrington,” Barrett said. “My dad owned Opperman’s Pharmacy on Main Street, where Sasso Pizza is now.

“I have been active in this community, including the Democratic Town Committee, for more than 20 years. I was secretary for many years, and then in 2019 I took a leave of absence from the committee, to be (state Rep.) Maria Horn’s campaign manager for the Democrats,” she said. “I notified the committee and told them I had to help Maria, that I wanted to give her my undivided attention.”

Barrett was elected to the P&Z as an alternate in 2010, and became a regular member in 2012. When it was time to run for reelection this year for another three-year term, Barrett said, she sent her candidate questionnaire to the committee.

“I called to find out whether we were approved for the slate, and I was told that I wasn’t endorsed to run for P&Z,” she said. “I was asked to run for another commission, but I didn’t want to do that.”

During the committee’s caucus, Barrett said, she received a nomination from Selectman Dexter Kinsella, but did not receive the committee’s endorsement to run for her seat on the P&Z. That, she said, was when she decided to petition for a primary.

“The long and the short of it is, I’m not going to let a handful of Democrats vote on the entire slate,” Barrett said. “I will be on the ballot for the primary, and also in November, because I have petitioned to do that. I’ve done my work, made calls, and sent postcards to be reelected. I’m doing what I’ve done for the Democratic Town Committee all these years; I’m running and I’m reminding everyone to get out and vote.”

Barrett is also a member of the town’s Conservation Commission, the Recycling and Trash Committee, and the Affordable Housing Plan Committee, to which she was appointed by First Selectman Robert Valentine. She is also a member of the Democratic Coalition of Northwest Connecticut, a grassroots organization.

“If anything comes up in any of those seats, where I have to recuse myself, I would,” she said. “For me, it’s about respecting the past, knowing where you are in the present, and looking to the future. That’s where I stand.”

Edison is an alternate member of the commission and is running for the three-year term so she can vote. “I don’t have a vote, and I want to vote,” she said. “I think my ideas differ from many who serve on P&Z.”

Barrett’s membership on the affordable housing commission, Edison said, is a conflict. “I believe Goshen should have a plan for affordable housing ... that incorporates the view of the public. How do I know what the public wants unless I ask them? That’s what public hearings are for. If we’re going to vote for the public, we need to hear what they have to say”

In response to Barrett’s statement that she would recuse herself if necessary, Edison said, “If she does, then we lose that vote. The other thing I’d suggest is, there has to be curiosity to serve on P&Z. In other words, you have an issue before you, and you need to study that issue. I think Jeremiah Foster and I are the people who will do that.”