Election Set May 7 –

Taking Pride In The Borough

By Steve Bigham

To Joan Crick, the Borough of Newtown has always meant so much more than simply a separate tax district within Newtown. Growing up there, she gained at an early age a sense of pride for what it meant to live in this historic place.

“My father was on the Board of Burgesses. He was senior Burgess,” she recalled this week. “I always loved it here. I could walk to the library, I could walk to school, and I could walk to the movies. People were more aware of the fact that they lived in the borough back then.”

When her grandfather William B. Glover died, his obituary in The Newtown Bee said, “William B. Glover of the Borough…” Glover Avenue, site of the Jim and Joan Crick homestead, was named in  honor of Mr Glover, a former first selectman, soon thereafter.

Today, the borough looks much like it did when it was formed back in 1824, and it is the people of the borough who are credited with providing Newtown with one of the state’s most historic Main Streets. Next week, the borough will conduct its elections, and while there are no exciting races taking place, the event serves as a reminder of just how special the borough really is.

And heading the list of candidates is incumbent Borough Warden Joan Crick, who seeks reelection to a seventh term in office. The election will take place next Monday, May 7, at Town Hall South. Also on the ballot are James O. Gaston, Betsy Kenyon, and Marie F. Walker, who are each seeking reelection to the six-member Board of Burgesses. Borough Clerk Darlene M. Spencer, Treasurer Marie F. Walker, and Tax Collector/Assessor Dawn Ford also seek reelection, as do Borough Zoning Commission members Brian Connolly, Patrick Lyons, and Brid Craddock (alternate), and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) members Walter Dzitko and John Madzula. Mr Madzula and Janet Woycik are seeking reelection to the Board of Assessment Appeals. All candidates are running unopposed.

Mrs Crick is hoping to see a larger turnout this year, better than the usual 30 or so who turn out.

“I would love to see the Borough residents get out to show they are interested in what we do and to show some support for us. We’ve got this big sidewalk project going and it’s going to start within the next month,” she said. “I’ve always thought wouldn’t it be nice to get people more aware of the borough today.”

The Borough of Newtown is a one-square mile area that runs from Blackman Road in the north to Borough Lane in the south. East to west, the Borough stretches from Sugar Hill Road (off Route 302) to the railroad overpass on Church Hill Road. Approximately 1,800 people live in the Borough and pay additional money in taxes each year.

Judge William Edmond and other prominent members of the center of Newtown formed the Borough of Newtown in 1824, which, at the time, was by far the most densely populated part of town.

“Outlying areas were all farms. These people decided they wanted and needed to have services, more than those in the outer, things such as safety, fire, roads,” Mrs Crick explained. “So, these prominent men went to the state legislature and got this part of town incorporated into a borough. They wrote a charter, which to this day has never been changed, although the boundaries have changed.”

Borough zoning was created in 1932, more than 20 years before town zoning was put into place in the 1950s.

“We’re all concerned with historic preservation. Most main streets have gone in the direction of business. Main Street in Newtown has not and I believe it is due to Borough zoning,” Mrs Crick said.

In 1995, Main Street was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1997 the borough was granted its own historic district by the residents of Newtown.