The Endgame Of Newtown’s Development

For nearly a year, Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission has been working on its decennial update of the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. Last winter, the commission invited the public to give it some direction in its planning, and this winter it is coming back to the public with a draft of its work for a critique. A public hearing on the proposed town plan has been scheduled for January 15 at 7:30 pm in the town land use office in Canaan House at Fairfield Hills.

The plan outlines a vision for Newtown ten years from now and begins its “vision statement” this way: The goal of the Town of Newtown is to protect and enhance its picturesque, rural, historic New England setting and attributes. The architecture and landscaping of all types of properties will be designed to protect the image of a rural and historic town…

Who can argue with these goals? Yes, we love the way Newtown used to be, and we want it to be that way now and always. In this case, we must recognize, however, that desire is again dancing with its favorite consort –– delusion. Consider the past 30 years in town. In the last three decades, the median age of Newtown’s residents has risen from 31.4 years to 37.5. In the past two decades, a third of the Newtown’s total area has been subdivided for the development of single-family homes. In the past decade Newtown’s population has grown by more than 20 percent. This dramatic acceleration of change has blurred our vision and dramatically changed our thinking. We no longer talk about preserving Newtown as an actual rural town; we are reduced to looking for ways to preserve the image of that ruralness.

There are three stages in Newtown’s development from prehistory to a complete build-out. The first stage starts in prehistory with the original Native American settlers and extends to 30 years ago, when Newtown was about one-third developed and still rural. The second stage starts in the 1970s and extends to the present when another third of the town was developed and Newtown was transformed from rural to exurban. The final stage starts now. The kind of radical changes that once took centuries, then decades, may now take just years. That is what makes this particular revision of Newtown’s Plan of Conservation and Development so important. It just may present townspeople with their last chance to influence the endgame in Newtown’s development.

The Planning and Zoning Commission deserves the community’s thanks in preparing such a comprehensive and thoughtful document. It goes far beyond articulating a vision for Newtown; it establishes goals and lists specific actions required to reach those goals. Its success in following the roadmap it has laid out in the town plan depends on the support it gets from the community. We urge all Newtowners to read the plan. A copy is available on The Bee’s website, NewtownBee.com. Then attend the January 15 hearing to support a rational and feasible plan to preserve what we can of a town that honors and respects its heritage in the face of the overwhelming momentum of change.