Date: Fri 03-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

year-in-review-1996

Full Text:

with cuts:In 1996 Newtown Tried To Come To Grips With Its Own Growth

1996 will be remembered by many people as the year Newtown tried to come to

grips with its growing pains. The sudden surge in the number of subdivision

applications to the town's Planning and Zoning Commission became the talk of

the town.

At the heart of the issue is Newtown's continued attraction as a desirable

Fairfield County location for a home.

Considered to be at the outer edge of the communting area to Lower Fairfield

County and the New York City metropolitan area, the town still has a surplus

of open land which developers and builders have been using for new home

construction. And people from places where housing costs are higher, consider

Newtown a relatively inexepensive place to live and bring up their families.

But as residential development has increased in town, a grassroots movement

has arisen among some town residents unhappy over the prospect of Newtown's

open areas being consumed by new housing.

An umbrella group, the Newtown Neighborhoods Coalition, has applied pressure

to town land use agencies in seeking to rewrite the land use regulations to

cut potential housing densities and make it harder to build new homes.

Coalition members say a larger local population will damage the town's

character, overburden the infrastructure, put strains on the public school

system, push up property taxes, and pose hazards to underground drinking water

supplies, among other complaints.

Developers have countered that the pressure to tighten the regulations has

caused them to expedite their development projects, resulting in their

acquiring subdivision approvals faster than they had planned. The developers

add that because they are in the business of building houses, they will find

ways to work with new stricter land use regulations approved by the town,

making their impact on the pace of development minimal.

As the new year starts, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is

considering revising its rules to place stronger controls on development.

Life Among The Trenches

Work on the town's $34-million sewer system proceeds apace.

Under construction since November 1994, the public works project is slated for

completion in the fall of 1997. After the town's portion of the sewer system

is built, property owners in the sewer district will be required to connect

their properties to sewer mains.

It often has been frustrating during the past year, manuevering around sewer

equipment and workmen on thoroughfares in the town center, but when the

project is completed, the borough, Sandy Hook Center, and Taunton Pond North

will have reliable wastewater disposal.

The town also got a new police chief in 1996.

James Lysgaht, Jr, formerly the second-in-command at the Bristol Police

Department, became Newtown's chief in July. Chief Lysaght replaces Michael

DeJoseph as police chief. DeJoseph retired from the Newtown position and took

a job in information services with the International Association of Chiefs of

Police in Virginia.

Capital Projects

Newtown has seen its skyline go from being hills and trees to hills, trees and

giant cranes. Currently, there are three major construction projects going on

in town.

The largest, a $28 million renovation and addition (73,000-square-feet) to

Newtown High School, was approved by the town in June, as was a $4.1 million

project at Hawley School. Those additions were brought on by overcrowding in

the schools and expectations by Superintendent John R. Reed that the

population within the school system will balloon by 40 percent over the next

eight years.

The Friends of the Library were especially cheery this year after having their

wish come true, a 21,000-square foot addition to the Cyrenius H. Booth

Library.

The project was approved in 1995 but the work began in March. Since then the

addition has moved along, but not without its share of problems, especially

the discovery of asbestos in the ceilings of the existing Main Street

building.

Following a succession of referendums asking residents to spend money for

various projects, a proposed $840,000 renovation to Town Hall South proved to

be too much for voters to take~~.

Flooding and general deterioration of the building has made life miserable for

the 20-plus town employees who work there. First Selectman Bob Cascella, who

promoted the project vigorously, was stuck without a back-up plan when the

referendum failed and spent the next several months looking for an alternate

solution.

This past fall, the first selectman formed the Space Needs Advisory Board to

assist him in his search for a possible new site for town hall employees,

possibly including those who work at Edmond Town Hall.

Looking for direction in another matter, the Legislative Council decided to

experiment with a new form of participatory government. With the concurrance

of the Board of Selectmen, a non-binding referendum was scheduled in December

to help the council ascertain whether the town would favor a $1.4 million

expenditure in the coming budget for the purchase of open space.

Only 3.8 percent of the town's voters turned out, and the split vote proved to

be too inconclusive for the council to use as a guide for future expenditures.

In trying to divine some meaning from the vote, First Selectman Bob Cascella

observed, "Maybe it shows that this is not the way to run government."

On a broader political stage, Bill Clinton was elected president in November,

but Newtown voters continued to do what they've done since the LBJ

administration, back a Republican nominee. Incumbent Republican two-term

Congressman Gary Franks was the exception, however as even Newtown voters

rejected his reelection bid. He was ousted by Democratic candidate Jim Maloney

of Danbury, whose wife Mary, grew up in Newtown, the daughter of Dr Thomas and

Pat Draper of Taunton Lake Road.

Schools: Mascot And

Administrative Changes

One of the year's most talked about events actually had more to do with

sports, but it will likely be remembered for a lot longer than any home run,

slam dunk, or touchdown. In February, the Newtown High School administration

announced that the Indian would no longer be its mascot. Principal Bill

Manfredonia said the Indian had to go. His decision, delivered over the

school's public address system, met with strong student protests. After a

lengthy nomination process that included several unlikely candidates,

including the "Newtown Yaks," the students finally settled on the Nighthawk as

the new school mascot.

School bells ringing at the year's end marked several key changes in top

Newtown school administrative posts.

They rang out the old - with a celebration peal of Thank Yous and a message of

Good Luck and Godspeed for retiring veteran Middle School Assistant Principal

Al Cashman.

Mr Cashman will step down from his 34-year position January 31, 1997, but not

before he is feted by his friends and colleagues at a retirement dinner dance

scheduled Saturday, January 4, at the Fireside Inn, from 6:30 pm to midnight.

The bells rang in the new, as well, for Middle Gate Principal Gary Hexom.

Mr Hexom is an experienced educator, having held teaching and administrative

positions in several schools over the past 25 years, both in California and in

his native Australia.

He was hired in November to assume the job of Middle Gate principal, replacing

interim school principal Robert Kuklis.

The 1996 school year also saw a re-allocation of several school principals to

new schools within the system in a sort of musical chairs type process dubbed

by some as the "school principal shuffle."

The chain reaction of change was set off when current Middle School Assistant

Principal Nancy Onorato moved over to her new position in September, leaving

her previous six-year post as principal of Head O' Meadow School.

Bill Bircher, longtime principal of Middle Gate, was then moved into the Head

O' Meadow slot that was left open by Mrs Onorato's departure.

That meant a vacancy occurring at Middle Gate School where Mr Bircher had been

the top administrator for the past 12 years.

Taking up the reins during a time of transition, Newtown Schools Assistant

Superintendent Robert Kuklis donned his principal's hat and became interim

head of Middle Gate School during the fall term.

When Gary Hexom was hired in November to fill the Middle Gate position and

assumed his duties December 1, Dr Kuklis returned full time to his position in

the superintendent's office.

A Fiery Crash

In October, a fiery crash on Route 302 killed a truck driver and set off

several explosions in front of George's Restaurant & Pizza, while diners

watched in horror.

For weeks, workers from Environmental Products and Services, as well as

others, tried to clean up the mess. The repercussions of the multi-million

dollar spill are expected to be felt for years, according to DEP officials.

In February, a tanker truck accident on Mile Hill Road South caused a spill

that also caused environmental damage. An oil truck, owned by local

businessman Bill Trudeau, apparently lost its brakes coming down Nunnawauk

Road with Ronald Cisero at the wheel. The truck slammed into an embankment,

spilling its cargo.

For Mr Trudeau, it was a year of bankruptcy and court proceedings aimed at

sorting out varied charges of non-payment of taxes, rent, fees, wages, and

creditors' bills.

A Winter To Remember

Who could forget last winter? As we enter this year's winter, many in the

North can only pray it's not like the one of a year ago when the snow fell at

a record-breaking pace.

According to the Techni-Weather Center in Danbury, 12 major storms dumped 106

inches of snow, breaking the record of 80.8 inches set in the winter of

1947-48. But it was even snowier in Newtown, where the Public Works Department

measured a total snowfall of 120.5 inches at the highway garage. Sanding,

plowing and other winter maintenance totalled $378,000, well over the $230,000

which had been budgeted.