Date: Fri 24-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

environment-land-use-pollution

Full Text:

Newtown: An Environmental Report Card

(with photos)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Mark A. R. Cooper, director of the Newtown Health District, recalls the first

Earth Day in 1970 when he was 15.

"We had a grand time," he said, noting he was among the many people who walked

along Route 6 in Woodbury and Southbury retrieving litter that had been cast

off by passing motorists.

With Earth Day 1998 having been celebrated on April 22 and Arbor Day set on

April 24, Mr Cooper reports on the town's environmental state of affairs.

Last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency removed certain types of

toxic waste from The Charles Batchelder Company, a former aluminum-smelting

plant on Swamp Road in Botsford. But some toxic material remains at the site.

Studies are underway about what should be done next to improve the pollution

situation at the site. The problem is complicated by the bankruptcy that

Batchelder was granted by US Bankruptcy Court and financial claims that have

been filed against the company by its creditors. Although heavy metals, such

as lead, have been removed from the site, petroleum-based groundwater

contamination problems remain, Mr Cooper said.

The domestic water wells in the Appleblossom Lane neighborhood are

contaminated with industrial solvents such as tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from a

past spill or spills of uncertain origin. After extensive study, the state

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has agreed to largely pay for a

$1.3-million extension of United Water's public water supply system to the

neighborhood to serve about 100 homes with safe drinking water. The water

service extension to remedy the PCE pollution is expected to be complete by

the end of this year, Mr Cooper said.

Throughout town, health officials seek to prevent the damage to groundwater

that can occur when underground heating fuel storage tanks leak, releasing

their toxic contents into ground water. Groundwater is the source of domestic

drinking water for the vast majority of town residents. The P&Z now requires

fuel tanks to be located above ground, preferably in basements.

Septic waste disposal system failures will occur. A 10 percent failure rate is

considered to be the standard failure rate statewide. Sometimes, even systems

designed by engineers fail within 15 years. And sometimes a conventional

septic system will last 30 years, Mr Cooper said. The health agency inspects

the installation of septic systems and their repair. To ensure that failed

systems can be corrected, the P&Z requires that an area on a lot be designated

for installation of a second septic system if the original system fails.

Last September, the town-state sewage treatment plant went into operation. The

plant purifies wastewater discharged within the town's sewer district and also

the sewage from Fairfield Hills. Since the 1960s, the state had wanted the

town to build a municipal sewer system to resolve the groundwater pollution

problems caused by numerous failing septic systems. After the state formally

ordered the town to build a sewer system, construction of it started on

Taunton Lake Drive in November 1994. About half of the more than 800

properties in the Borough, Sandy Hook Center, and Taunton Pond North which

have sewer access have connected to the system. The town-state sewage plant is

designed to handle one million gallons of wastewater daily. When the need for

sewer system expansion likely arises sometime in the future, space will be

available at the sewage plant for an additional one million gallons of

wastewater treatment capacity.

The town has been conducting a septic-system repair program with government

funds designated for sewer system construction. Under the program,

participants get loan subsidies to help them repair failing septic systems.

Earth Day's Evolution

C. Stephen Driver, the town's conservation official, has a view on the origins

of Earth Day.

"Ecology for its own sake. It became a `cause celebre,' if you like," Mr

Driver said.

Earth Day has evolved into something which it wasn't when it began, he said.

A practical application of the intent of Earth Day today manifests itself as

"wise land-use practices (intended) to support economic well-being of the

community," he said.

Newtown's sense of environmental protection can be traced to four people, Mr

Driver said. They are former conservation official David Thompson, State Rep

Julia Wasserman, former Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) Chairman Ted

Whippie, and the late Arthur Spector, who also was a P&Z chairman.

Those four people didn't always agree on local environmental issues, but they

made a difference for the town, he said.

"Newtown is really under incredible (developmental) pressures today," Mr

Driver said. "It's because of the wise land use that this town has instituted

and managed for all these years."

He pointed to the extensive horse trail network and the preservation efforts

of the 74-year-old Newtown Forest Association.

Other towns in the region are now seeking to define their identities. Bethel

is in the process of beautifying its town center. New Milford is improving the

look and function of its Bank Street.

The overarching symbol of Newtown is its towering flagpole, which is the

centerpiece of Main Street, a thoroughfare bordered by a range of

architectural styles.

But as developmental pressures mount, Newtown is evolving from a classic New

England town into more of a suburban community, Mr Driver said. He termed the

dynamic, "the homogenization of Newtown."

In the next several years, the town government must focus on what Newtown

should look like in the year 2010, Mr Driver said.

In a town where roughly 250 houses are built annually, the Town Plan of

Development and the Strategic Economic Plan of Development must be taken most

seriously, he said.

Preservation

"We really want to preserve the character of Newtown," First Selectman Herb

Rosenthal said of his avowed desire to protect the town's environment and

eliminate pollution problems.

Enforcing the town's zoning regulations and protecting the quality of local

water resources will contribute to the town maintaining itself, the first

selectman said.

Mr Driver concurs. Newtown is a very desirable place to live and, thus, is

facing strong residential development pressures, the conservation official

observed.

Mr Driver, a Redding resident, said residential Newtown is within one hour's

drive of Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Stamford, Waterbury, White Plains

and Poughkeepsie. Within that geographical area, there are 200,000 middle

management jobs, he said, adding that Newtown's well-regarded public school

system and recreational programs, plus its friendly people attract families to

the town, resulting in residential growth and developmental pressures.

Newtown is a good place to raise a family, he said, adding, "Growth is a

positive, not a negative."

In general, Newtown has done a good job managing its growth, Mr Driver said.

Mr Driver is a mechanical engineer by training, with a background in technical

management. He has worked in the field of natural resource conservation and

development.

While town technical staff members don't set land-use policy, if the goals of

the Conservation Commission and Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) can be

quantified, strategic plans of economic development can be formulated, he

said.

Regulators

The P&Z and Conservation Commission, which serves as the town's inland

wetlands and watercourses commission, are "putting out fires" in their

handling of the many development applications submitted to them, Mr Driver

said. The volume of development has affected those agencies' ability to plan

for the future, he noted.

There's no good reason to divide the P&Z into separate planning and zoning

agencies, he said, noting the broad overlap in such agencies' functions. Some

towns use the services of an appointed advisory group to the P&Z, such as the

one recently which was appointed by the selectmen and charged by the P&Z, he

said.

The town Plan of Development, which was last revised in 1993, is a "moving

target", Mr Driver said, adding the P&Z should start working on the 2003 Plan

of Development this year or next year.

Constant planning is necessary, he said. Land-use agencies formulate policy.

Technical staff members facilitate policy formation and then implement the

policies, he explained.