Date: Fri 07-Jun-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

homeowner-coalition-growth

Full Text:

Homeowner Coalition Maps Strategy Against Development

A neighborhood homeowners group organizer is predicting that a coalition of

homeowner associations will grow rapidly in the face of continuing local

residential development.

"The coalition believes that most residents of Newtown share its concern over

an eroding tax base, overcrowded schools, the destruction of the rural

character of the town, and the threat to water, and groundwater pollution,"

Jack McGarvey, head of the Rocky Glen Area Association, said in a press

release issued this week.

The Newtown Neighborhoods Coalition has agreed to explore the concept of

placing a moratorium on new residential subdivisions, he said. A group of

homeowners met Tuesday at Edmond Town Hall to discuss their developmental

concerns.

Eric Roundy, Rocky Glen Area Association vice president, said "We'd like to

avoid pursuing a moratorium on new subdivisions... We have sensed a more

pro-active stance from some of our elected officials and believe that some of

them are as concerned as we are over Newtown's exploding residential growth.

But it is clear that houses are being built at a rate the town cannot afford."

Mr Roundy called for a moratorium at a May town forum on residential growth.

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members later rejected placing a

moratorium on residential development, according to P&Z Chairman Stephen

Adams.

According to the coalition, the group will use the town's 1993 plan of

development as a basis for proposing new zoning regulations. These proposals

will include: increasing minimum residential lot sizes; reducing the maximum

allowable slope of driveways; prohibiting rear-lot residential zoning by

requiring each building lot to have a certain minimum amount of town road

frontage; and setting aside 20 percent of residential developments as open

space land, instead of the customary 10 percent, according to the prepared

statement.

The coalition also plans to propose to the town's Charter Revision Commission

that the P&Z be divided into a separate planning commission and zoning

commission.

Mae Schmidle of the Tamarack Woods Association said a coalition subcommittee

will seek to have the Legislative Council enact a developmental moratorium. If

the council rejects such a move, the coalition will seek a referendum on the

matter, according to Mrs Schmidle.

"Although undesirable development in our backyards may motivate us, we will

present a clear vision of both a present and future Newtown," according to

Kurt Gillis, a coalition member.