P&Z Members Reviewing Town Plan In Decennial Update

By Andrew Gorosko

As the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) enters the last full year of its ongoing update to the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, the panel has decided which of its members will be reviewing certain sections of the document to keep it current during the coming decade.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said this week that following their individual review of the town plan’s sections, the members will return to the full P&Z with reports on possible changes to the decennial document.

The assignments for plan review include: community facilities, Peggy Fillion; economic development, Jim Swift; open space, Robert Mulholland; transportation, Michael Porco, Sr; housing, Ms Dean; and future land use planning, Rudolph Pozek.

It is expected that the P&Z would hold public meetings that focus on certain sections of the town plan in updating those sections.

P&Z members plan to largely use the format of the 2004 town plan in formulating the document’s revision for the coming decade.

Although the updated town plan is technically not due until the end of 2014, P&Z members have said they intend to complete the update by the end of 2012 in view of local officials’ desire to have a revised document available relatively soon.

When the town updated its 1993 town plan to formulate the 2004 town plan, it hired a planning consultant for the project, spending approximately $100,000 for that work.

Citing budgetary constraints, the town has not hired a consultant to help update the 2004 plan, instead opting to have town officials make the revisions.

Ms Dean said she expects the P&Z will meet its deadline to complete the town plan update by the end of 2012.

The town plan is a decennial advisory document that provides the P&Z with general guidance in its decisionmaking. P&Z approvals or rejections of land use applications typically state whether a given application respectively adheres to or diverges from the tenets of the town plan when P&Z members state their rationale for a decision.

The current town plan addresses a broad range of issues facing the town, including: community character, conservation, natural resources, open space, housing, economic development, community facilities, and transportation. The document lists a multitude of planning goals for the town.

The 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development is available for review at the town’s website, www.newtown-ct.gov.