Growth, Conservation Slated For

Discussion At Town Plan Hearing

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members will seek public comment on future local growth and land conservation at a public hearing Thursday, January 15, on the decennial revision to the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

The hearing is slated for 7:30 pm at the town land use office at Canaan House at 4 Fairfield Circle South, Fairfield Hills. The town plan is at a draft stage and subject to change before the P&Z takes action on it in February or March. For the past two years, Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc, (HMA) of Hamden, the town’s planning consultant, has been managing the town plan revision for the P&Z.

The draft town plan proposes a vision of Newtown for the coming decade. It lists a series of planning goals and makes many recommendations that are intended to manage local change toward achieving planning goals.

The town plan includes an advisory future land use plan, which would be used by the P&Z as a policy guidance tool in overseeing town efforts to manage, change, growth, conservation and development.

Copies of the draft town plan and related documents are on file and available for public review at the town land use office at Canaan House, and at the town clerk’s office in Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street.

 

Vision Statement

The draft town plan’s “vision statement” holds that a prime local goal is the protection and enhancement of the town’s picturesque, rural, historic New England setting and attributes. The architecture and landscaping of all local properties should be designed to protect the town’s image as a rural and historic town, it adds.

During the coming decade, town agencies will work together to maintain a suitable variety of housing, taking into account residents’ varying lifestyles and economic circumstances, while providing and developing equal recreational activities and facilities for all residents, it adds.

The town will work to protect undeveloped open space areas, farmland, trails, aquifers, wetlands, and other environmentally sensitive areas, it adds. The vision statement holds that local public education will continue to excel in quality and efficiency.

“Newtown will succeed in attracting commercial businesses at a rate equal to its growth [rate], and the design of the town’s roads and [its] traffic patterns will enhance business development, while minimizing traffic congestion for the residents,” it adds.

The draft town plan describes preferred forms of conservation and development in a “future land use plan.” A multicolored map illustrates that plan.

The future land use plan describes the most appropriate locations for residential development, commercial growth, business districts, industrial growth, municipal facilities, conservation and open space areas, civic uses, institutional uses, and specialized zoning districts. The future land use plan, as illustrated by the colored-coded map, graphically depicts the town plan’s vision statement.

About 30 percent of the land area in town, including some environmentally sensitive areas, remain vacant land. The future uses of those areas will have significant effects on the town, according to HMA.

To support and protect the local quality of life, a balance between development, the conservation of open space and natural resources, and the preservation of the town’s historical and natural resources is necessary, according to the plan.

While environmental protection and open space conservation are key components of the town plan, the document acknowledges that investment and development are necessary to improve the local property tax base, as well as maintain the economic well-being of the town and its residents.

Residential Growth

Based on past growth trends, HMA projects that, “It can be reasonably anticipated that Newtown will continue to face cyclical development pressures to meet market demands for additional single-family detached housing in northern Fairfield County.”

Newtown holds an estimated 11,500 acres of privately owned vacant land, plus an additional 1,350 acres of privately owned agricultural land, HMA notes.

“The 40-year trend of developing single-family detached housing in Newtown is likely to continue during the next ten years,” HMA observes. Between 1990 and 2000, the town’s population rose from 20,779 to 25,031, representing a 20.5 percent decennial growth rate. The town’s population growth between 1990 and 2000 was numerically greater than the total growth experienced between 1970 and 1990, according to HMA.

The future pace of local residential development will be determined by market forces and municipal land use regulation, it adds.

“While the cost of new housing in Newtown has risen steadily, housing costs in Newtown remain significantly below the cost for comparable housing in lower Fairfield County, where an important portion of the [Newtown] housing market demand originates,” it states.

As long as the demand for single-family detached housing persists in this part of the state, Newtown, with its ample supply of privately owned vacant land and good locational attributes, can anticipate residential growth, HMA states. Also, an expanded population will create a demand for local commercial growth, it adds.

“Change is a constant in every community, and the character of Newtown will continue to evolve as the community matures,” HMA observes of the town’s incrementally changing character.

Municipalities decennially revise their town plans to address changing conditions in planning for the coming decade’s growth and land conservation. A town plan serves as a conceptual framework to guide the P&Z in its decisionmaking on land use applications. P&Z members often cite whether a particular land use application conforms to or diverges from the tenets of the town plan when approving or rejecting that application.

Since early 2002, HMA has produced 12 planning memoranda, which are the basis for the town plan. Those 12 memoranda will serve as appendices to the town plan. The memoranda cover demographics, development patterns and trends, community character, conservation and natural resources, open space, parks and recreation, community facilities, housing, economic development, transportation, a public opinion survey, and a study on creating land use regulations that would maximize the amount of open space preserved in residential subdivisions.