Date: Fri 28-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

greenways-Fetzer-Rosenthal

Full Text:

Piecing Together Newtown's Greenway Will Be A Daunting Task

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

From the outset, Newtown's Greenways Committee knew it needed accommodation

from almost everybody if it was to achieve its goals.

The panel is working to develop a trail system that it hopes will someday

connect Huntington State Park with the upper and lower Paugussett State

Forests. To do so, the Greenways Committee will have to splice together

various town open spaces bit by bit by approaching property owners along the

trail for easements across their land and developers for help in preserving

open space in key locations.

The task is daunting, but Greenways Committee Chairman Gary Fetzer believes it

can be done. He said his panel needs credibility to show people that the idea

of a continuous trail system in Newtown can move beyond the planning stages.

For starters, Mr Fetzer believes the Greenways Committee has to get more

involved in the application process of the Planning & Zoning Commission. "We

need to be able to jump into an application process so that we can ask the

developer if he'd be willing to accommodate his subdivision to tie it in with

the Greenways plan."

Planning & Zoning Commission member Dan Rosenthal, the liaison between the two

boards, agrees, saying the committee needs to meet with builders in the

planning stages, before that subdivision application ever even reaches P&Z.

He said history has shown that developers are often willing to do their part

in working with an organization once it is understood what that group wants to

do.

"Some developers have been known to sit down with property owners, like

Newtown Bridle Lanes, to agree on a plan long before we ever see the

application," said Mr Rosenthal. "They know Bridle Lanes exists. Now, once

Greenways is established, hopefully it will have the same results."

Under its regulations, the P&Z Commission could not require a developer to

adjust building plans in order to accommodate the request of a third party.

"It would have to be a friendly agreement," Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Rosenthal said the P&Z Commission needs to determine where it feels the

Greenways Commission needs to become involved in the application process.