EDC Salutes Newtown Agribusinesses

By Kaaren Valenta

The Economic Development Commission held its eighth annual Salute to Business at the Fireside Inn last week, honoring three local agribusinesses as examples of farms that have diversified to meet the challenges of the modern economy.

Accepting the awards from EDC chairman Chet Hopper were Morgan McLaughlin, owner of McLaughlin Vineyards; Stephen Paproski of Castle Hill Farm; and Sue and Jim Shortt of Shortt Farm and Garden Center.

Since Morgan McLaughlin took over the 160-acre vineyard that was planted by her father more than 20 years ago, the property in Sandy Hook has become the site of wine tastings, private parties, and other events, to attract the public, Mr Hopper said.

“Morgan is a firm advocate of agribusiness diversification and believes that it is important to make her vineyard a ‘destination’ to involve people with her services and products,” he said.

The Castle Hill Farm, once one of the largest dairy farms in Fairfield County, now offers a corn maze, hay rides, a pumpkin patch, tours, and other attractions to draw people from other towns and keep the farming tradition alive.

Sue and Jim Shortt expanded the Shortt Farm on Riverside Road to include a garden center and also sell their produce at the weekly organic farmer’s market on Tuesday afternoons in Sandy Hook. They also started a landscaping service.

“Again, they have shown that it is difficult to exist as a farm of any size,” Mr Hopper said. “Diversity is the only answer for people who want to farm and garden.”

The town needs to foster and promote agribusiness, he said, and the EDC is taking steps to do that by becoming an advocate for business in Newtown.

“The EDC is in a period of change — really an evolution,” Mr Hopper said. “We have always been a consulting and recommending commission, now we are adding ‘advocating.’ We want to serve as an advocate for any desirable existing or new business in Newtown, either directing the business owner to the appropriate board or commission or “speaking to that body on your behalf.”

He said the EDC’s basic goals are to maintain the character of Newtown; increase employment opportunities; have minimum impact on existing infrastructure, and increase the tax base of the town.

Elizabeth Stocker, the town’s community development director, said the town continues to see continued growth and development.

Newtown ended 2004 with a total of 137 new housing units approved, down slightly from 141 the previous year, but the value of all residential permits was up $6.5 million, she said.

Forty-seven new lots were approved in 2004 on 171 acres of land, an average of 3.6 acres per lot, almost equal to the four acres of the previous year.

According to the Warren Group, median home sales in Newtown this year were $448,250 for a one-family house, up 2.5 percent over last year. Condo sales, however, jumped from $340,000 in 2004 to $512,375 this year, a whopping 51 percent increase.

Commercial building permits, for the fiscal year ending June 30, were up for the fourth consecutive year. The value of all commercial permits was $20 million, up from $12 million the year before.

 Four new buildings were constructed: Caldwell & Walsh on Berkshire Road, American Stair and Environmental Energy Services in the Curtis Corporate Park off Toddy Hill Road, and Newtown Savings Bank on Main Street.

“The local labor force was up by nearly 1,000 in 2004,” Ms Stocker said. “Currently about 14,000 are employed in Newtown. In the last fiscal year 23 companies filed under the state’s Manufacturing Assistance Act, the same as the previous year, amounting to about $10 million. The grand list was up 2.6 percent.”