Date: Fri 10-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

growth-newcomers-Davenport

Full Text:

WITH PHOTO: New Residents Are Finding What They Are Looking For In Newtown

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Suzanne Davenport was relieved when, newly married, her husband, Bob, assured

her they would only be living in the north for two years. But now that they've

experienced life in Newtown, they said they don't ever want to leave.

What lured the couple to town five years ago?

"It was the closest we could live to Stamford and afford the house we wanted,"

said Suzanne, who began her search in Ridgefield and moved up the line.

Proximity to Stamford was key because that's where Bob's job was.

"This house had everything on Bob's list except a wrap-around porch; and it

had a pool for me," she said. "When we moved here we didn't know much about

the town. The realtor told me it had a really good school system... We wanted

a smaller school system so we would know the teachers, and I could get

involved and the kids could have good friends."

The couple moved from South Carolina to Stamford a month after they were

married, and after six years they decided to start a family. "We didn't want

to raise our kids in Stamford," said Bob, who grew up in Suffern, N.Y., and

attended college in South Carolina. "We wanted to move out where there was

more of a community and were people you could get to know - people who weren't

as transient as in Stamford." Although his commute is an hour, Bob said he

feels the benefits to living in Newtown far outweigh the downside of the

travel distance.

Bob said the people here were a lot friendlier than those in Stamford. "It was

more like what we were used to in South Carolina," he said. "The small town

feeling of the community... good people who were nice and friendly, and people

who cared about their neighbors."

None of the neighbors came to see them when they moved in, so the Davenports

introduced themselves to the people next door and across the street. Those

three families are the only ones they now know on their street. The Ferrises

and Bonds were both long-time residents, so that was who Suzanne called when

she needed to get the name of a good plumber, or to find out what to do when a

bird flew down the chimney. When they first moved in, Suzanne and Bob felt the

neighbors probably thought, "Oh boy, some more people from Stamford moving in

- city slickers." But they said they felt immediately accepted.

The Bonds' 15-year-old babysits for them; their 13-year-old son takes the

Davenport's two sons, Bobby, 6, and Tyler, 4, out in the woods and teaches

them about nature and takes care of dog when out of town; and Mr Bond

generously plows the driveway in the winter.

"We're city people," said Suzanne. "So I'm glad they will grow up with this

kind of background instead of being in a city."

Although the neighbors don't "come over for a pizza on a Friday night,"

Suzanne said she would call her neighbor before the police if she heard a

noise in the house. "He would be here right away," she said. "In Stamford, it

might be the people next door who are trying to get into your house!"

The Ideal In Newtown

Suzanne grew up a small, but populated, island in South Carolina. "I wanted

[to move to a place like that] where we'd know everybody on the street and

know all the kids," she said. "I would like that for my children - to know

everyone where they grew up."

It is an ideal, she knows, because in the short time the family has lived

here, Suzanne has had two close friends with preschool playmates of her son's

move away. She met these friends, and a lot of other people, through The

Newtown Newcomer's Club Inc (formerly Welcome Wagon Club), an organization she

has been activley involved in since 1991. Last year she served as president

for the organization. Suzanne said her family is more social with the new

people in town because they tend to have more in common: moving here from a

city or larger place, the same age, and looking for a good and stabile base

for their children.

Some companies who transfer employees have researched the area and recommended

Newtown as a place to live, she added. The people on temporary assignment to

this area tend to talk about what their next house or next community will be

like, said Suzanne.

"I like my house. I like my neighbors - they are good people," she said. "I

want to stay right here."

Bob, a business executive, who has served as treasurer for Newtown Youth

Services Board of Directors since they moved to town, did so because he

"wanted to get involved in the community where I lived and I thought this was

a good way." He also played on the Men's Softball League one year. But he said

it was Suzanne's involvement in Newcomers' that got them acclimated to the

community so quickly.

The Davenports bought an older house; they did not build. As Suzanne waited at

the base of her driveway for the school bus to drop off Bobby, she motioned

across the street to where a new house was being built. "I don't like looking

out and seeing a house here - it used to be trees and bushes before," she

said. But there's not a lot that can be done to stop people from building new

homes if they want to, she admitted; it's happening everywhere and Newtown is

no exception. "If we're going to have new houses, we should let more

businesses come in, because [new houses] will effect the mill rate.

"You can't expect it a place like this to stay exactly the same," said

Suzanne. "You have to decide whether to go with change, or go somewhere back

even more remote... I do feel bad for the people who have lived here forever.

We're imposing on them. Do they leave because of us? I hope not."

Concerns About Growth

Bobby is in kindergarten now; next year he will join one of six first-grade

classes. Suzanne is concerned about overcrowding and believes it is worth the

investment to provide smaller teacher-student ratios. "If we don't put the

money into them, how can we expect more out of them," she said. I know a lot

of people in town don't have kids and ask why they should pay taxes [to

support education]. Granted, they're not yours, but they are somebody's child

and that's our future. One of them could be the future president of the United

States."

Bob is concerned that there is not much of a business base in Newtown. Those

that are here are mostly sole proprietorships, not large businesses that make

for a good base for collecting taxes, he said. "So that means as services are

needed and we continue to get into the 21st Century, the tax burden is going

to more and more on the individuals," he said.

"Here, most of us are about the same [in socio-economic background] and in

what we're looking for in life," said Suzanne. "We're all crowding in on

people who have been here forever because we want what they have. And they're

probably saying, `Get these people out of here!'"

"The main point," said Bob, "is this community offers a lot and that's why

people move here. It has a lot to do with the quality of life and the quality

of people that you meet here - that's what attracts people. It's a

double-edged sword - you can't have all these great things and not expect

other people to want them."

"I think we've found exactly what we wanted," he said. "This community is

great."