Date: Fri 07-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

developers-association

Full Text:

Developers Resolve To Fight Building Boom Backlash

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

In light of continuing homeowner protests over new home construction projects,

a group of local builders and developers Wednesday night stressed that they

comply with town development regulations and are entitled to build new houses

to earn a living.

About 15 members of the Newtown Builders and Developers Association met in

Edmond Town Hall to explain that they are in the business of home

construction, an activity which is tightly regulated by the town to ensure

that construction standards are met.

During recent months, several neighborhood homeowners associations have been

calling for the town government to slow down the pace of residential growth in

view of increasing population densities and diminishing open space.

Developer and builder Kim Danziger called for the association, which has been

dormant in recent years, to be reactivated to address issues that collectively

affect builders and developers.

"We don't make the land, and we don't make the customers. We're just strictly

the instrument in between," he said.

If people think there's a building boom in Newtown, the should travel south to

the Middle Atlantic states to see what a building boom really looks like, he

said.

Builder David French said the local construction industry employs many people

directly and indirectly. The people who oppose residential development tend to

commute to work out of town, he said.

Considering that Connecticut's population has been in decline, Newtown is

blessed to have construction continuing here, said real estate agent Cindy

Tilson.

Not everyone who lives in new houses has children attending local public

schools, said Carol French. Opponents of development have criticized new

construction because it brings new children to town, requiring added property

taxation to cover expensive educational costs.

Mr Danziger expressed concern over membership turnover on the town's land use

commissions. He urged that builders and developers seek to seat new members on

commissions who are "development intelligent." He said it behooves builders

and developers to have a developer seated on a land use commission. New people

on land use agencies should understand how development works, he said.

Some builders expressed concerns over the Planning and Zoning Commission's

(P&Z) intention to eliminate rear house lots in one-acre residential zones,

saying such a change will hurt them economically. The P&Z plans a public

hearing on the matter on June 20.

Several developers suggested that only a relatively small number of people

oppose residential development, and those people tend live in neighborhoods

where development is planned.

Builder Neal Burko said newspapers are providing development opponents with a

forum for their objections to local growth.

Builders buy land and then follow the town's construction regulations in

seeking to earn a living, he said. Builders aren't doing anything wrong, he

said. They enhance property they build on, he added.

"We're sitting here like a bunch of dancing fools because we're (unnecesarily)

defending ourselves," he said. "We're taking a tactic. We're running scared

and we don't have to. It's bad business."

Mr Berko said the people who complain most about development are people who

live in smaller, older houses. He termed the publicity promulgated by the

opponents of development "misinformation from a small fragment of misinformed

people who are hypocrites."

Mr Berko questioned the veracity of various statements which have been made by

Jack McGarvey, the Sandy Hook development opponent who heads the Rocky Glen

Area Association.

Developer Thomas Maguire said people discuss creating developmental

alternatives to conventional subdivisions such as cluster hosuing, but what

they're actually trying to do is stop growth.

Only those people who face growth in their areas attended a May 14 town forum

on residential growth, he said.

Mr Maguire said he hopes that the bond of respect between developers and town

land use agencies isn't broken by the actions of a small group of development

opponents.

A proposal to increase minumum residential lot sizes in town known as

"upzoning" could devalue local land, he said.

Mr Maguire said developers and builders must become involved in developmental

issues that affect their livelihoods. He predicted that developers and

builders would be willing to contribute $50,000 to $100,000 to create a fund

to advance their causes.

Developer Gerald Caviliere said public comments made at the residential

development forum in April that disparaged town land use regulators were

unfair. The town has the best land use inspectors in Fairfield County, he

said.

Developer Ed Raymond recommended that association members support the efforts

of Habitat for Humanity in its plans to build two houses on Philo Curtis Road

for low-income families.

The construction of two 1,200-square-foot houses is expected to start in

September, Mr Maguire said.

In such a project, professional builders donate their time to do the

technically complicated work in the largely volunteer-built houses.