Backyard Or Open Space?

To the Editor:

Open space preservation has become the catch phrase in Newtown these days. With “Open Space Development” on the P&Z agenda and the selectmen recommending authorizing $10 million in borrowing for purchase of open space or development rights, the town is trying to seek a way to control property taxes and slow down a suburbanization of the landscape. At the same time we have learned that expanding the commercial tax base turns out to be the antithesis for maintaining a semblance of what Newtown “stands for.”

These goals are admirable, however, the basic often-quoted fact presented for open space acquisition seems flawed. We are told that the “state goal” for town open space (both public and private) is 21 percent of land area and that we are in fact only at 14.5 percent. Based on how we measure open space we can reach a totally different statistic.

In fact the town has testified that in the average subdivision there is one house per every four-plus acres of raw land. With a house, its driveway, and outbuildings covering less than 3/10 of one acre, one might say that there is over 90 percent open space in the subdivision. That percentage will only increase with the newly enacted upzoning which excludes wetlands watercourses and steep slopes in the calculation of lot area.

Could it be the fact that Newtown far exceeds the 21 percent goal of open space?

Gary Tannenbaum

Pond Brook Road, Newtown                                             May 25, 2004