Local EDC, Supports New Projects, Plans ‘Taste Of Newtown’

Newtown’s Economic Development Commission reported this week that its members have been busy in recent months, committing time, effort, and resources to several large projects. And the commission is also planning a two-week “Taste of Newtown” activity that is set for the fall.

Local EDC officers, who were elected in May, are Margaret Oliger and Donald Sharpe as co-chairmen, Walter Motyka as vice chairman, and Joseph Humeston as chairman.

Mr Motyka previously served on the Fairfield Hills Authority.

Major projects Newtown’s EDC has been supporting in recent months include:

*Advanced Fusion Systems’ projected $25 million investment in Newtown for developing an broad array of products with “applications in [electrical] power generation, transmission and distribution, environmental remediation, semiconductor manufacturing, defense and medical industries”

*Final approval by Newtown regulatory agencies for the Newtown Technical Park, designed to attract modern industries with needs of up to 100,000 square feet of floor space; and

*Solid inquiries from several developers interested in large tracts of privately-owned land, which are in the initial stages of discussion.

Beyond that, the commission is focused on nearly a dozen issues designed to better serve existing retail, commercial, and industrial businesses, both small and large. The needs of those firms were pinpointed in the results of a survey late last year that reached out to approximately 1,750 existing firms in Newtown.

The largest concern of survey respondents involved complex Town of Newtown regulations governing the size, shape, lighting, positioning, and display of signs. A working group, headed by EDC Commissioner Thomas Murtha, is being pulled together with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, Land Use Agency, Planning and Zoning Commission, and businessmen and women to identify major concerns and seek possible solutions.

A “Buy Local” campaign featuring townwide public events is being coordinated by EDC member Joseph Tarshis to spotlight an array of goods and services available from town merchants. The first-ever Taste of Newtown will be staged for two weeks in September and feature special offerings from participating restaurants.

The EDC is a prime sponsor of the event.

Information is being gathered on ways to create a service center for hundreds of small, home-based Newtown businesses that seem ready to expand. Such a business incubator — whether in bricks and mortar or web-based — would provide services such as common secretarial and mailing functions, business services like copying and telephone answering, and a conference room for centralized meetings.

For new businesses, EDC Commissioner Motyka is designing virtual and printed brochures outlining the contact points for those seeking permits to do business in town, whether in special design districts, the Borough of Newtown, or in other areas.

The road map will primarily assist those starting new businesses or current ones seeking to expand.

Speaking of special design districts such as those in Sandy Hook, Hawleyville, and the town-owned Fairfield Hills campus, Mr Humeston is charged with finding better ways of supporting such neighborhood mixed-use districts.

A new long-term project — providing additional direct help for new and existing entities seeking assistance in locating or expanding in Newtown — is being developed by Director of Planning and Community Development Elizabeth Stocker and her staff, intern, and volunteer assets. EDC Commissioners s Oliger and Sharpe are helping guide the process. The initiative is also expected to raise awareness of Economic Development Commission services and proposals to the general public and be a contact point for various media outlets.

Also ongoing are upgrades to the EDC’s relatively new website, www.newtown.org, and better ways to spotlight business and commercial interests through social media.