Date: Fri 16-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Taunton-Dodgingtown-Neighbors

Full Text:

Taunton/Dodgingtown Neighborhood Organizes

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

A new neighborhood association has formed to deal with developmental issues

stemming from continuing residential growth.

The Taunton/Dodgingtown Neighborhood Association is composed of residents from

those two sections of town. Joseph Kelly and George Gollenberg, both of

Taunton Hill Road, organized a Monday night meeting at the Dodgingtown

Firehouse at which the association was formed.

Mr Kelly said Wednesday the controversy surrounding the proposed Whispering

Pines and Tamarack Woods residential subdivisions heightened his awareness of

local developmental issues.

He later learned that a 15-lot residential subdivision, known as Wedgewood,

was proposed for land adjoining his Taunton Hill Road home, he said. The

development is proposed for 27 acres by M&E Land Group.

Although some of the lots proposed for the land are "beautiful" building

sites, others are "marginal," Mr Kelly said.

Some people living in the area have undependable water wells, he said. He

questioned whether building a new subdivision would further strain those

wells. The development proposal would result in heavy water runoff from the

site, he said.

The Wedgewood proposal was scheduled for a Planning and Zoning Commission

public hearing on the night of August 15, after the deadline for this edition

of The Bee.

Mr Kelly said he moved to Newtown from Danbury for an improved quality of

life; he wondered whether that would remain the case with added development in

the area.

Increased development that has been proposed for the Taunton area would

dramatically increase traffic flow in a place with hazardous roads, he said.

Mr Kelly said Taunton/Dodgingtown Neighborhood Association will join forces

with other recently formed associations under the umbrella group known as

Newtown Neighborhoods Coalition.

A statement from the Taunton/Dodgingtown Neighborhood Association expressed

concern over developers' efforts to gain every possible building lot from a

development site. Such high-density development could result in many serious

problems in the future for surrounding homeowners, according to the group.

Topics discussed by residents attending the Monday night neighborhood group

session included: well water depletion and pollution, excess water runoff onto

adjacent properties and roads, erosion, and the contamination of wetlands by

septic systems.

Residents expressed concerns about four subdivisions either approved or

proposed for the Taunton/Dodgingtown area. These are the approved 10-lot

Pinnacle Ridge on Route 302; the approved 5-lot Sturges Woods on Sturges Road;

the proposed 19-lot The Estates on Taunton Hill on Taunton Hill Road; and the

proposed 15-lot Wedgewood on Taunton Hill Road.

The organizers of the Taunton/Dodgingtown group say they want the new

association to be a "watchdog" that will seek out early signs of development

activity in the area to give homeowners time to research a developer's

application, thus allowing association members to present their case to town

land use agencies in an organized and informed manner.

Association members want to work with other citizens groups, town officials,

the Legislative Council, land use agencies, builders and developers to revise

the town's development regulations with the goal of reaching a "reasonable

rate of growth" to preserve the town's rural character, according to the

group.