Date: Fri 16-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Stocker-growth-P&Z

Full Text:

Development Director's Report Details Local Growth

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

During the past seven years, the town has approved 937 new building lots, with

largest number of lot approvals in a single year coming in 1993-94 fiscal year

when 228 lots were approved, according to a report on residential growth

prepared by Elizabeth Stocker, the town's director of community development.

During the same seven-year period, the town issued 1,102 building permits for

new dwellings, according to the report. The largest number of new dwelling

building permits in a recent single fiscal year (256) were issued during the

1995-96 fiscal year, the report states.

Ms Stocker prepared the report at the request of First Selectman Robert

Cascella.

Between July 1, 1989, and June 30, 1996, a period of seven years, there have

been 136 applications for subdivisions and resubdivisions of land which

resulted in the creation of 937 building lots on 5,027 acres, according to the

report.

The grand list of taxable properties for October 1, 1995, indicates there are

approximately 800 vacant lots in the town in residentially-zoned areas,

according to Ms Stocker. Information on how many of those lots are approved

subdivision lots versus lots which would be subdividable or are forest or farm

land wasn't available in the report.

"There is no doubt that housing construction will cost the town in terms of

road maintenance, health and safety services, education of children, and loss

of open space and the rural character of the community. These issues were

noted in the 1993 plan of development and are being worked on now in terms of

zoning and subdivision regulation amendments and economic development

strategies," Ms Stocker writes.

It appears that people who are employed in surrounding towns and in nearby New

York State are finding Newtown to be an attractive place in terms of housing

costs, educational quality, proximity to employment and the character of the

community, according to the development director.

Without mass transportation, private vehicles are the primary way to commute

but such private commuting damages local air quality, according to the report.

In another recent report on residential development, Ms Stocker states that a

moratorium on new residential subdivisions, which has been suggested by some

residents as a way to slow growth, would not stop development on properties

that are already subdivided or which have building permits. Neither would a

moratorium affect any applications pending before the Planning and Zoning

Commission (P&Z), according to Ms Stocker.

Approved subdivisions and pending applications are protected from moratoriums

by the provisions of state law, according to the community development

director.

The P&Z's plan of development approved in 1993 addresses residential

development densities in various sections of town, she said. The P&Z is

reviewing recommendations that were made in the plan, she adds.

The plan is a conceptual framework of planning goals which land use agency

members use for guidance in deciding on development applications.

Whether a given development proposal is consistent or inconsistent with the

plan of development often is cited by P&Z members in deciding whether to

approve or reject development applications.