The Board of Selectmen approved a $100,000 state DEEP grant to the Bike & Trails Committee to be used to plan the building of a trail connecting the Fairfield Hills Campus and Sandy Hook.

At its October 2 meeting, selectmen unanimously approved the grant, which includes $80,000 in direct funding, with the remaining $20,000 to be matched by the town in already performed in-kind services working on the project by the Land Use Department, and a $5,000 grant from the Jeniam Foundation.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said the town should incur no expenses from its general fund.

“Likely no cash will be required from the town,” said Rosenthal.

The in-kind services make up 100 hours of Land Use Director Rob Sibley’s time to process the bid, and the awarding and management of financial payments, and in-kind service from volunteer personnel over three years totaling $10,000.

The plan will likely require a bridge across the Pootatuck, as the stretch from the campus to Sandy Hook is able to be hiked but the current route requires hikers to get across Tom Brook, which is “not an easy process.” The plan will be “actionable” around how to best link the two areas with a trail that can be hiked.

“This plan will make it more of a bona fide trail,” said Rosenthal.

In other BOS news, the Economic Development Commission Chairman Jeffrey Robinson and Economic and Community Development and Fairfield Hills Coordinator Kim Chiappetta presented the EDC’s Strategic Plan for Economic Development.

Approved at the EDC’s August 15 meeting, the plan “supports the desire for a diverse and vital economy that recognizes the many groups that contribute to the community vision of Newtown.”

It further states that it “emphasizes areas that will improve the tax base ratio of commercial taxes compared to residential taxes.”

The plan, which must be updated every five years, is expected by EDC members to be used in whole or in part in the upcoming Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), which the Planning & Zoning Commission is expected to begin work on in the near future. The POCD must be generated by municipalities every ten years by state statute.

Robinson told the selectmen that the last plan was approved in 2011, while an update started in 2015 was “put aside.”

“It was getting too deep, too long, and too detailed,” said Robinson.

The new strategic plan is much shorter than the previous report, and it is more focused on what the EDC can do with its current staffing and budget levels.

“We looked at the old report and saw there was too much in it, we couldn’t commit to doing a lot of it,” said Robinson.

Robinson credited EDC member Barbara Snyder with doing “a lot of the work” in driving the new report to its current conclusion.

Rosenthal agreed that “skinnying” the report down “made sense.”

Selectman Ed Schierloh asked if the EDC has any idea of how they want to act on the new plan to start, but Robinson noted that the town has recently hired a new staff member and they wanted to wait until that person starts to get their input before going in a direction.

The goals of the plan are to develop programs to improve the economic climate by supporting existing businesses and attracting new businesses. It notes that the town has seven business districts and a goal is to continue to enhance the districts.

The final goal is around community enrichment, and the desire to seek input from residents around their needs and desires, and support Newtown as a destination for businesses.

Objectives include assisting businesses with incentives to develop undeveloped properties, nurturing existing businesses, evaluating infrastructure needs, and enhancing the quality and diversity of businesses available to residents.

To meet those goals, strategies include supporting the Fairfield Hills master plan and bringing new businesses to the campus, assisting in helping property owners fill vacant storefronts and industrial buildings, facilitating communications between business owners and town officials, seeking out available grants, and collaborating with other town commissions and community groups.

It also discussed promoting the newly updated Economic Development website as a source of information.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.