Date: Fri 26-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

open-space-state-legislatiion

Full Text:

ED INK: Financing Open Space Acquisition

The state legislature's Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee is considering

legislation that would significantly boost efforts statewide to preserve open

space. The measure is particularly attractive for towns in Fairfield County,

including Newtown, which are facing intense pressure on their natural

resources from development.

The proposed legislation would enable towns to levy a conveyance tax of one

half of one percent on real estate transactions if the revenue is used for the

acquisition of open space. Last year 238 new homes were constructed in

Newtown, typically selling in the $300,000 range. The proposed conveyance tax

on those homes alone would have given Newtown $375,000 for the purchase of

open space. That amount could be parlayed into even greater buying power for

the town through a program of bonding and matching grants enacted into state

law last year.

Realtors and home building groups are opposing this legislation, arguing that

the new conveyance tax would drive up housing prices and hurt their business.

The $1,500 the new tax would add to the price of a $300,000 home, however,

does not seem like it would be much of a deterrent to buyers in the already

overheated market for housing in Newtown. Plus, if Newtown were to have a

regular program of open space acquisition, the town would be even more

attractive to prospective residents. No one wants to move into a town intent

on exhausting all its natural resources.

As the inexorable build-out of Newtown continues, the price of land is rising,

and open space acquisition becomes an increasingly expensive proposition.

Linking the town's ability to afford open space land to the ever-rising price

of real estate also helps ensure that open space preservation efforts won't be

priced out of the market as is now happening in lower Fairfield County.

We urge area legislators to support this legislative initiative.