Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

selectmen-Greenways-Fetzer

Full Text:

Selectmen Give Greenways Panel A Boost

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Gary Fetzer was uncertain of the fate of his Greenways Committee when he

showed up at Monday's meeting of the Board of Selectmen. But he did not expect

the news to be good.

The selectmen had invited him in to discuss the future of the panel, which Mr

Fetzer has chaired since its creation three years ago. Greenways was set up to

develop a trail system, connecting the town's open spaces in a greenway

stretching from the Huntingtown State Park on the Redding border to the upper

and lower Paugussett State Forests.

However, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal has considered terminating the group

in recent months, feeling it had lost some of its momentum. Mr Fetzer knew

this and was expecting bad news.

Instead, the selectmen agreed to give the Greenways mission a boost by

recommending that it receive the remaining $48,000 in grants from the Iroquois

Land Preservation and Enhancement Program (LPEP), which must be used by the

end of this year.

Mr Fetzer had submitted a proposal for the remaining $48,000 last year. He was

seeking the money to build a parking lot along the Huntingtown State Park on

Hopewell Road and for bridge work over the Pootatuck River near the Black

Bridge Trail off Glen Road.

Mr Rosenthal was apparently unaware of these proposals and seemed relieved

that the Greenways Committee had an idea for use of the funds already in mind.

The first selectman had never seen the grant request, and there is still some

question as to whether Iroquois ever received it.

"I didn't realize they made a formal proposal," Mr Rosenthal said Tuesday.

The selectmen unanimously supported the plan.

Mr Fetzer said the use of the Iroquois money will allow the Greenways

Committee to finally do something tangible, sending a strong message to the

town.

"This tells the public that Newtown is still serious about preserving open

space by doing something tangible," he said.

As for the future of Greenways -- it looks brighter for now, but in what

capacity?

Last month, Stephen Koch of the Planning & Zoning Commission and Donald

Lawrenson of the Conservation Commission both stated that they did not need

the Greenways Committee to serve as a joint open space committee. The

Greenways Committee had proposed that it assist the two boards as it accepts

the 10 percent open space from developers to ensure that it is usable land.

Both Mr Koch and Mr Lawrenson said their boards already did that.

But as Mr Fetzer pointed out Monday, someone has to be an advocate for the

town. He is not sure what the drawback is to the Greenways Committee serving

as a joint open space board.

"I think Newtown has a reputation for getting a lot of wetland and wasted

land," he said. "We're looking at it as, `Does it fit into our master trail

system of greenway system?'"

The ad hoc committee was started by former first selectman Bob Cascella in an

effort to help Newtown retain its hundreds of acres of open space. The

committee's original task was to link all the open space in town with the

trail system. The committee created a map, but with no money, it was limited

to simply creating an inventory of all open space.

"There are no easy solutions. You can't just go out there and build a trail

system. You just have to do a little bit at a time," said Mr Fetzer, who

challenged Mr Rosenthal's for the first selectman's seat at a primary last

summer.

Mr Rosenthal said the Board of Selectmen needs to restructure the group. He

believes it needs to be given a very specific charge with a time limit.

Otherwise, he said, time drags on and little gets accomplished. The first

selectman believes a more accurate name for the group might be the trails

committee.

The Greenways Committee was dealt a crushing blow a year ago when the town

opted to use $400,000 worth of Iroquois money to purchase a 13-acre parcel off

Elm Drive, adjacent to Dickinson Park. Mr Fetzer's committee was hoping to use

the funds as seed money to buy plots of land in order to connect the various

open spaces.