Group Organizes To Fight Upzoning Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

A citizens group is forming to fight the Planning and Zoning Commission’s (P&Z) controversial upzoning proposal, which would increase the minimum zoning requirements for extensive residential sections of town.

Richard Haight of 99 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center has been named president of the fledging group known as the Newtown Property Owners Association. The group, which has affiliated with the Greater Bridgeport Property Owners Association, will represent the interests of local property owners, especially in terms of the P&Z’s upzoning proposal, Mr Haight said.

The upzoning proposal, which is intended to protect groundwater quality, drew opposition from residents at public hearings earlier this month and in December. Affected residents say they are unconvinced that upzoning is necessary.

Mr Haight said the association opposes the upzoning proposal. “We’re really for expansion of the sewer system, where it’s needed, as a means to protect the aquifer,” he said.

The P&Z is not keeping citizens’ needs in mind when it proposes an extensive upzoning of residential properties, he said. Such a proposal hurts property owners economically, he said.

Upzoning extensive residential sections of town would create many properties which are non-conforming to zoning, he said. Upzoning would create a large regulatory hurdle that would place financial burdens on property owners, he added. “It’s not based on fact. It’s ill founded,” he said.  Mr Haight said upzoning would tend to stop development.

Mr Haight said the association is raising funds to file a court challenge if the P&Z approves upzoning.

Barry Piesner of 34 Alpine Drive in Riverside, an association member, said a nucleus of a dozen association members met February 21 to chart the organization’s course. Another session is planned for Monday, February 28, at 7 pm at the Super Stop & Shop supermarket public meeting room at Sand Hill Plaza, he said.

 “Upzoning is not the solution… It absolutely is not the solution,” Mr Piesner said. Lakeside communities such as Riverside already have been developed to the maximum, he said in questioning the value of placing added zoning restrictions on such areas.

Upzoning could prevent future development, he said. “It just doesn’t make sense. It isn’t practical. There have to be other ways to deal with the issue” of groundwater quality protection, he said, adding that upzoning creates a whole new regulatory problem for homeowners.

Mr Piesner vowed a legal fight against upzoning, saying such a battle would be a long and hard one.

The P&Z’s stated goal of sewer avoidance is not a legitimate reason for upzoning, he said.

Mr Piesner asked why the P&Z did not directly notify affected property owners of the public hearings on upzoning through the mail, instead of placing a legal advertisement in a newspaper listing the names of 170 affected streets.

P&Z Rationale

 The underlying goal of upzoning is to protect groundwater quality, both in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), which lies atop the Pootatuck Aquifer in south-central Newtown, and also in the several lakeside communities in Sandy Hook lying on the eastern edge of town along Lake Zoar, including Shady Rest, Pootatuck Park, Riverside, Cedarhurst and Great Quarter. The comprehensive rezoning proposal covers an aggregate area greater than 2,500 acres. It affects approximately 2,315 properties, almost 2,000 of which have dwellings on them.

Under the proposal, some residential properties with current 1/2 -acre zoning would have zoning designations increased to either 1 acre or 2 acres, depending upon their location. Other properties with current 1-acre residential zoning would be increased to 2 acres. Such upzoning is intended to decrease potential construction densities, and hence decrease threats to groundwater quality.

Upzoning would increase the minimum development standards for affected properties, especially for properties with current 1/2 -acre zoning, which would be converted to 1-acre or 2-acre zoning.

The underlying issue in increasing minimum residential lot sizes to at least one acre is ensuring that building lots are large enough to safely provide adequate space for both a septic system and a domestic water well, according to the P&Z. In 1993, the town’s health department recommended that minimum lot sizes be increased to at least one acre. Upzoning would create undersized, non-conforming lots, resulting in increased activity by the zoning enforcement officer and Zoning Board of Appeals.

The public criticism leveled at the upzoning proposal at a February 3 public hearing comes in the same vein as opposition the proposal drew at a December public hearing. In December, property owners told P&Z members they fear that increasing minimum zoning standards would damage their properties’ development potential, and thus reduce the value of their land.