First Selectman Requests Updated Open Space Presentation

By John Voket

With the reintroduction of open space conservation in the town’s capital planning and funding, First Selectman Pat Llodra has asked Land Use Deputy Director Rob Sibley to provide a full perspective on Newtown’s open space, including the long-range taxpayer savings such a practice can influence.

The presentation will be the centerpiece of the November 15 selectmen’s meeting, which begins at 7:30 pm in the Newtown Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills.

“This will be the first time our selectmen will hear about the town’s vision and projections for the future,” First Selectman Pat Llodra told The Bee ahead of the meeting.

Acknowledging that budgetary constraints forced the town to temporarily suspend capital funding for open space purchases in 2009-2010 fiscal cycle, Mrs Llodra said she hopes plans to reinstitute the program will gain support this year.

“Either way, it’s important to not let the conversation die,” Mrs Llodra said. “We need to keep ideas fresh and alive.”

The first selectman expects Mr Sibley to not only discuss the long-term taxpayer savings such a program could generate, but to also provide an overview as to how the program has already conserved substantial tracts of open space, often with the collateral benefit of tying to or overlaying those acquisitions with existing open space, greenways and the town’s existing trail system.

Following last year’s ratification of the Capital Improvement Plan, Mr Sibley bemoaned the prospect of suspending all underwriting for such purposes until at least the 2013 fiscal year. But it appears there is gathering support to reinstitute the program this year.

Conservation Commission Chairman Joe Hovious previously told The Bee that “once a piece of land is gone for potential as open space, it’s gone forever.” He and Mr Sibley both work to raise sensitivity to open space as a habitat and natural resource. He also believes, “It’s cheaper to have the land off the market.”

That assertion is backed up by data that Mr Sibley presented to the full council prior to 2009 budget deliberations. At that time the land use officer projected the annual taxpayer cost impact of potential development would be nearly $4.4 million in 25 years, versus an annual taxpayer savings of almost $2.5 million if the town continues to pursue open space conservation through capital spending over the same period.

That projection assumed a three percent annual increase in property taxes, per-pupil expenditure, and the overall cost of municipal services.

Between the 2005 and 2008 fiscal years, Mr Sibley showed that the town was able to protect 350 acres of land at an average per acre cost of $24,000. But the conservation initiative also received $800,000 in matching grants to offset the overall cost.

Based on data Mr Sibley presented in early 2009, the program’s investment began showing a public financial cost-savings benefit in just nine years versus the taxpayer liability if those 73 qualified parcels were developed for residential use.