Plan Of Conservation And Development––

P&Z Works On ‘The Other Plan’

By Andrew Gorosko

While most of Newtown is focused on the Fairfield Hills master plan, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members continue to refine the evolving Town Plan of Conservation and Development, as they prepare to submit a draft version of the document for review by the Board of Selectmen and by the Legislative Council.

Since 2001, P&Z members have been revising the town plan, a decennially-updated document intended to help a municipality plan for future growth and conservation.

David Hannon, the director of planning and transportation services for Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc, (HMA) of Hamden, which is the P&Z’s planning consultant, presented P&Z members with a revised version of the basic content of the town plan at a July 31 session.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil asked panel members to review and critique the document toward preparation of the plan, which will be submitted for review and comment by the selectmen and the council.

The 18-page document submitted to the P&Z by Mr Hannon, entitled Issues, Goals and Strategies, forms the core of the town plan. It addresses topics including community character, land conservation, natural resource preservation, open space protection, transportation, housing, economic development, and community facilities. The document lists which of 15 local governmental agencies would be responsible for implementing various aspects of the town plan.

The listed agencies are the Borough Board of Burgesses, Board of Education, Board of Fire Commissioners, Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers, Board of Selectmen, Borough Zoning Commission, Conservation Commission, Commission on Aging, Economic Development Commission, Legislative Council, Public Buildings and Site Commission, Police Commission, Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning and Zoning Commission, and Youth Service Board.

In the 18-page document, HMA identifies various basic growth and conservation issues which the town will face during the decade leading up to 2013. It also lists public planning goals that may be achieved through a variety of strategies. (See separate story)

Mr Hannon said the town plan will include a description of the local growth and land conservation that has occurred during the past 20 years, plus a set of growth projections. A formal “vision statement” explicating the P&Z’s preferred patterns of growth and land conservation for the coming decade will be included, he said.

Mr Hannon stressed that HMA is seeking to provide a town plan that is “implementable” and whose recommendations are acted upon by the town. A series of “benchmarks” would be provided as reference points to let the town to gauge its progress in implementing the plan’s recommendations. HMA is seeking to produce “a usable document,” Mr Hannon stressed.

A series of appendices will be attached to the plan, providing detailed reference material on the various components of the document.

Besides printed copies of the town plan, the completed document will be published in digital form on compact disc, as well as posted on the town’s website on the Internet, Mr Hannon said.

Much text and graphical content of the evolving town plan is now available on the Internet at: www.newtownct.org/.

The Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council will review a draft version of the town plan and submit their comments to the P&Z. After possibly revising the document, the P&Z will hold a public hearing on the town plan, after which it will act on the town plan. That P&Z public hearing may be held in early December, but the schedule for completing the plan is yet unclear.

Residents who took part in a planning workshop last march on revising the town plan listed “preservation” as a watchword for the coming decade.

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

A town plan includes policies, goals, and standards to be used in regulating the physical and economic development of the town. A town plan is intended to promote coordinated development, toward the general welfare and prosperity of residents.

The town plan revision comes amid a long 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 swift growth for the past 40 years, with a relative slowdown in that expansion coming during the 1980s, when an economic downturn reduced the rate of new home construction.