Republican’s Llodra, Rodgers Support  Shortening Development Plan Timeline

By John Voket

Newtown’s top of ticket Republicans are promoting a somewhat different take on planning than their opposing candidates, recognizing the substantial amount of work that has already been accomplished creating framework for local long-range projects, and progressing utilizing that framework with appropriate modifications, “leadership,” and “common sense.”

Patricia Llodra, the GOP’s first selectman candidate, and her running mate, current Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers, released a platform statement Wednesday outlining the mechanisms Newtown has in place to date, and outlining how they would organize those existing tools to maximize cooperation among the numerous boards and commissions involved in various aspects of long-range or strategic planning.

“A plan alone has no power or influence without leaders who are able to use that tool effectively to implement its strategies, align resources, and engage others, including the community,” Ms Llodra said in the release. “Many of us have experienced planning initiatives that result in shelf-sitting documents. Leadership is what makes the difference.”

“The difference between us and our opponents is that we don’t want to simply graft a new level of planning on top of existing levels, nor do we want to throw out all existing plans and start over from scratch,” Mr Rodgers added.

In examining the town’s existing long-range Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), Ms Llodra sees a major drawback in the decadelong wait between its state-mandated revisions.

“The Plan of Conservation and Development, while well written and comprehensive, feels dated in some aspects,” she said. “Much of the underlying information was gathered in 2003. And while not everything has changed, periodic updating would lend greater relevance and power to the POCD as a tool to inform municipal decisionmaking.”

Ms Llodra said the ten-year gap in updating the municipal POCD allowed for in state regulations is just too long, and a more frequent updating would help keep the community better informed about the status of specific projects within the greater scope of townwide planning.

Perhaps most important, Ms Llodra said, would be the expectation that regularly updating the POCD would reconnect any separate boards and commissions that maintain their own plans of action. She believes the net result would be “less drift from the central mission, better benchmarking and accountability, better relationship to current data, more clarity about needs and plans, and earlier identification of gaps.”

The GOP candidates favor making technical modifications to resources already available to help the community understand existing and future planning, versus creating a lot of new web-based tools for that purpose.

Acknowledging the POCD is already posted on the town’s website, and that it is “well organized and very informative,” Ms Llodra points out that plans of other agencies referenced in the POCD are not as easily accessed. 

“Using tools of technology such as live links embedded within the POCD through which readers may follow-up planning activities of specific agencies would help the community become better informed,” she said. She recommends simply embedding links to the strategic plan recently developed by the Board of Education, the long-range plan of Park and Recreation, and the police department five-year plan, among others.

Ms Llodra and Mr Rodgers also take issue with critics, including opponents from the Independent Party of Newtown, who have crafted political platforms based on the premise that current local planning initiatives are either nonexistent, dysfunctional, or lack transparency.

“The Economic Development Commission, Park and Rec, Board of Education, and Board of Finance, to name just a few, all have plans and operate within a planning review cycle,” Ms Llodra said. “Those plans are crafted by folks who know and understand the work of their organization, and who provide necessary expertise and insight.” 

Ms Llodra also believes that all municipal planning, whether at the POCD or “agency level,” is conducted so the public has multiple opportunities to provide input into both priorities and strategies. And even though it is nearing the point of statutory revision, the GOP candidates defend the POCD as offering a vision of the community and viable guidance for municipal decisionmaking.

“Goals are prioritized and, in most cases, implementation strategies are identified,” Ms Llodra said. “A close read of that plan identifies most of the capital needs we are addressing or plan to address in the near future. Further, an examination of the imbedded action plans illustrates that the plan has had some influence on financial and political decisionmaking.”

With that in mind, the GOP top of ticket contenders say there is a big difference between planning to influence political decisionmaking, and politicizing long-range and strategic planning for one’s own gain.

“We’re not coming at planning with any preconceived notions or disguised agenda,” Mr Rodgers said. “Instead, we’ll go where common sense and the majority process dictate.”

“It is difficult to integrate and prioritize all the existing planning information into a meaningful whole and form a vision for our community’s future without first agreeing on a common, central planning platform,” Ms Llodra said, pointing to the existing Plan of Conservation and Development as one possible platform.

“Integrating separate plans will help create a comprehensive whole and address, in part, the perception that decisions are ad hoc and unrelated to each other or not connected to an overall vision for our town,” Ms Llodra concluded. “Case in point: plans for Fairfield Hills, reviewed and revised as necessary, should and will be incorporated into our overall town plan of development.”