Conservation, Development Guidelines—

P&Z Approves Town Plan For Coming Decade

By Andrew Gorosko

Following more than two years’ of work on the comprehensive planning project, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has adopted the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, a decennial advisory document designed to guide local growth and land conservation as the town approaches 2014.

P&Z members unanimously approved the town plan at a February 5 session. Town plan formulation is considered one of the most important tasks of the P&Z. The plan takes effect March 1.

A draft version of the plan in textual and graphic form is available on the Internet at www.newtown-ct.gov/.

Town planning consultant Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc (HMA), of Hamden started work on the project in late 2001. The firm has managed the town plan update, plus related planning projects for the P&Z.

The town plan lists a long series of planning objectives for a range of municipal departments in describing ways to accomplish the document’s goals. Individual town agencies are expected to annually update the P&Z about progress in accomplishing the document’s 180 basic objectives.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil has stressed that the P&Z wants a town plan that is a “living document,” that serves as the basis for accomplishing its many stated objectives.

The town plan contains a “vision statement,” which summarizes the document’s major themes. That 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, according to the statement.

The vision statement adds that the town will work to protect open space areas, farmland, trails, aquifers, wetlands, and other environmentally sensitive areas.

It holds that local public education will continue to excel in quality and efficiency.

Also, “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.

While formulating the planning document, the P&Z conducted a public opinion poll via telephone in 2002, and held a well-attended public planning forum last spring. The agency conducted a final public hearing on the draft document in January.

At the February 5 P&Z session, David Hannon, HMA’s director of planning and transportation services, submitted for P&Z members’ review various revisions that HMA made to the then-draft town plan, in response to public comments made at a January 15 public hearing on the document.

At the January 15 session, the P&Z fielded a wide range of comments including residents’ views on population growth, property taxation, municipal services, public education and facilities, multifamily housing, senior citizen facilities, open space preservation, equestrian trails, the preservation of coldwater fisheries, commercial development, and the value of land conservation.

On February 5, Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker presented P&Z members with a set of revisions to the town plan’s generalized future land use map. The multicolored, large-scale map of the town depicts the variety of preferred land uses that are specified by the town plan. The mapping provides a geographical context for the 100-page plan’s content.

Mr Hannon explained that the textual and graphical content of the plan has been digitized for use on computer systems.

Completion

After P&Z members approved the town plan, Mr O’Neil simply stated, “We have finished the Plan of Conservation and Development,” to the cheers and applause of the few people present.

P&Z member Lilla Dean noted the time and the effort expended by many people to formulate the plan.

Phil Michalowski, a principal member of HMA, told P&Z members that the town has a useful plan that will help it during the coming decade.

“This [P&Z] commission has put more energy into this plan than most of the clients we work with,” Mr Michalowski said.

“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 foundation for the town plan. Those 12 memoranda are 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.

The town plan includes a future land use plan, which would be used by the P&Z as a policy guidance tool in overseeing town efforts to manage local growth and conservation. 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 a colored-coded map, graphically depicts the town plan’s vision statement.

To support and protect the local quality of life, a balance among factors including 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.

Copies of a draft version of the town plan and related documents are available for public review at the town land use office at Canaan House at Fairfield Hills, at the town clerk’s office in Edmond Town Hall at 45 Main Street, and at Booth Library at 25 Main Street.