With the fates of three potentially impactful subdivisions decided — 2-4-6-8 Riverside Road in late November 2024, and 20-60 Castle Hill Road and Vessel Technology’s affordable housing plan at 4 Berkshire Road and 22 Oakview Road in February — the town is still looking forward to the fates of a number of other properties, from 6 Commerce Road to far less controversial properties such as 3 Main Street and the duplexes at the Fairfield Hills complex.

The 2-4-6-8 Riverside Road and 20-60 Castle Hill Road developments were approved; the development at 4 Berkshire Road and 22 Oakview Road was rejected.

It must be noted that while in each case there was coordinated opposition and thus folks who are happy or unhappy with the decisions, in the end the town and its commissions are trying to walk the delicate balance between development that can bring in additional tax dollars (though many argue residential developments cost more than they bring in) and preservation of the town as its residents envision. Both are important considerations, though often at odds.

Development is important not only because of gains to the grand list but because people need housing. The country is in the middle of a housing shortage, with stock of homes in Connecticut being particularly low. More places for folks to live means less unanswered demand and slower increases to local rents. It can bring in a variety of people who can also experience what a great place Newtown is to live.

Preservation is also important — most residents, whether they are recently moved in or have lived their whole lives here, want to preserve the small town charm and character that Newtown is known for, and the old forests such as the ones at 20-60 Castle Hill Road are a large part of that character, bringing a sense of bucolic beauty to the town.

People opposing developments are often disparagingly referred to as NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard), but is there anything particularly wrong with not wanting a large development built in a nearby backyard? When one buys a property or has enjoyed an area for a long time, seeing those beautiful wild spaces get filled with homes can be a disheartening feeling.

For those less familiar, the 2-4-6-8 Riverside Road development includes four buildings of mixed use. Building one is a residential building with 12 units on two floors. Building two is a mixed-use building, with residential over retail, with nine units in a town house style. Building three is six residential over garage units, and building five is another mixed-use building with four units over retail. Building five would rest where the building on the corner of Riverside Road and Washington Avenue is currently. The developer included a stadium-style staircase for pedestrian access from Riverside Road and Washington Avenue, and an area to preserve the pine tree that sits in front of 2 Riverside Road.

The application for 20-60 Castle Hill Road was asking for the approval of a 117 home cluster subdivision on 20 Castle Hill Road while leaving 60 Castle Hill Road, including Reservoir Road, which is part of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, often locally referred to as the Rochambeau Trail, as part of a proposed open space easement representing roughly 85 acres of the total 132 acres. The amount of homes was reduced to 99 during the Borough Zoning Commission’s deliberations.

The Vessel Technology plan for affordable housing at 4 Berkshire Road and 22 Oakview Road that did not pass detailed two apartment buildings that would have consisted of 114 one-bedroom, six two-bedroom, and 16 three-bedroom apartments. The buildings were “set-aside” developments under Connecticut general statute 8-30g, or affordable housing. The developer planned to set aside 30% of the apartments, or 41 units, for 40 years at 60-80% of the median income.

The next big decision for the town will be the fate of 6 Commerce Road. Being located next to the beautiful Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary as well as the Deep Brook watershed are certainly strong arguments for it to remain open space, and there is a segment of residents that agree with that assessment in the grassroots group Newtown Conservation Coalition.

The state legislature has removed the requirement that the property be used for commercial development — however, just because it is no longer required to be a commercial development doesn’t mean it can’t be. Those who want to see it as open space need to continue their work to convince town officials to designate it as such, because the siren song of a potential commercial developer expressing interest in the property could be difficult to resist.

With that property surrounded by commercial developments and factories, and with commercial development being a particularly large source of tax dollars, that could offset the difficult budget for years to come.