Residents Comment On Growth And Conservation Issues

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members plan to review ideas on growth and conservation advanced by about 40 residents who attended a Saturday, March 8, brainstorming session held to help the P&Z refine the goals of Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

The P&Z convened the session at the Newtown Middle School cafeteria to give the public an opportunity to help the town plan for growth and land conservation during the coming decade.

The P&Z began work on revising the 1993 the town plan in mid-2001. The updated 2003 town plan will be published next fall. Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc, (HMA) a Hamden planning consulting firm, is aiding the P&Z in its revision of the town plan.

Phil Michalowski of HMA said such workshop sessions are nonconfrontational events that allow residents to build a consensus of opinion on worthwhile public planning goals.

 Maps, charts, and graphs illustrating various land use topics were on display around the large skylit cafeteria, serving as reference material for the several dozen residents who discussed public planning policy during the three-hour-plus session.

Residents split up into seven groups, which tackled various aspects of the town plan update. Topics discussed included: a vision for the future, preservation, open space, housing goals, economic development, community facilities, and transportation. Individual P&Z members led the discussion groups.

The broad subject matter under discussion elicited many ideas, which discussion group members listed on large sheets of paper.

Among the dozens of ideas expressed by participants were: the town should hire a person to manage town-owned open space areas and natural resources; the seat of town government should remain on Main Street instead of being shifted to Fairfield Hills; new houses should be clustered on development sites to maximize the amount of open space preserved within subdivisions; the town should create mechanisms to encourage economic development to better balance the local tax base; local water quality should be safeguarded; the town should encourage farmland preservation; and it would be preferable have new affordable rental housing scattered throughout town instead of having such housing concentrated in one area.

One resident, expressing concerns about the town’s rapid growth, asked whether decennially updating the town plan is frequent enough, suggesting that the document should instead be updated every five years.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil told residents that after the town plan revision is completed next fall, the P&Z would do periodic reviews to gauge various town agencies’ progress on implementing the goals of the town plan.

Mr O’Neil urged workshop participants to carefully consider the proposed “vision statement” that will be included in the revised town plan. That short strategic statement provides the general goals of the town plan. “It provides [the desired] end result,” Mr O’Neil said. “There has to be some result that we’re all trying to get to,” he said.

David Hannon of HMA said the planning firm would compile and analyze the various ideas that workshop participants listed. Those thoughts would help refine the issues, goals, and strategies of the town plan.

The people who attended the planning workshop have a keen interest in public planning policy, Mr Hannon noted. Such volunteers can advance the public planning process during the coming decade, he said.

Mr Hannon said HMA will discuss the ideas that surfaced at the March 8 planning workshop with the P&Z at the commission’s March 20 meeting.

The town plan revision comes during a period of rapid growth. The town’s population grew by more than 20 percent between 1990 and 2000, reaching 25,031 people in April 2000. The town has experienced rapid growth for the past 40 years, with a lull in that expansion coming during the 1980s, when an economic downturn reduced the rate of new home construction.

State law requires municipalities to update their town and city plans once every ten years to help local governments plan for the future. A town plan provides a conceptual framework used by land use agencies in making decisions on development applications. The P&Z often cites whether a particular development application adheres to or diverges from the principles of the town plan in approving or denying that application.

A town plan consists of policies, goals, and standards to be used for the physical and economic development of the town. The plan includes the P&Z’s recommendations for the most desirable uses of land. A town plan is intended to promote coordinated development, toward the general welfare and prosperity of residents.

 The plan addresses housing opportunities, including multifamily housing, for town residents and for residents in the region. State law requires town plans to promote housing choices and economic diversity in housing, as well as address the topic of cluster housing.

Revised state law now requires that the P&Z submit its proposed town plan to the Legislative Council for review. That review would focus on the financial implications of the plan.

 HMA has prepared memoranda on the various planning topics to be included in the town plan, which are available for review on the Internet at www.newtownct.org/.