Date: Fri 28-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-regulation-changes-Stocker

Full Text:

P&Z Proposes Stricter Regs

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are tightening some land use

regulations in response to public calls for better control over residential

growth.

On March 20, the P&Z plans to conduct public hearings on its proposed rule

changes on sand and gravel mining, and also on driveway and roadway grades.

The P&Z is proposing that the current 15 percent maximum grade allowed for

driveways be reduced to a 10 percent grade, said Elizabeth Stocker, the P&Z's

land use adviser. Parking areas would be limited to a maximum 5 percent grade.

Driveways would have to be built within a limited area. Depth limits would be

placed on driveway excavations, she said.

"The whole purpose of this is to reduce the changing of the landscape," she

said.

The proposed new rules are designed to have development be less disruptive to

the environment, Ms Stocker said, explaining that an impetus for change came

from the opponents of Whispering Pines, PSD Partnership's planned 13-lot

residential subdivision on 26 acres near Cherry Street, Pine Street and

Narragansett Trail in Sandy Hook.

The Whispering Pines project was one of the most controversial development

proposals in recent years. The project drew heavy criticism from nearby

property owners, who charged that the construction amounted to a sand and

gravel mining operation preceding a home building project. Work will involve

removing about 37,500 cubic yards of earth materials from the site to make way

for a road onto the property. An earlier proposal involved removing 50,000

cubic yards of material.

The proposed new rules would limit the amount of cutting and filling on a

development site, Ms Stocker said.

Restricting earth-moving is intended to preserve the ground's contours, reduce

the overall excavation at a site, and protect the presence of features such as

stone walls and trees, she said.

The goal is to work with the earth's contours, not against them, she said.

According to the proposed sand and gravel regulations, other than the amount

of earth-moving that is needed for creating building foundations, septic

systems and underground water storage tanks, the town would limit the amount

of earthen fill that could be removed or placed on a building lot to 200 cubic

yards.

Whispering Pines area residents strongly objected after the town gave the

developers a permit to remove 7,770 cubic yards of material from one building

lot.

Ms Stocker said she hopes the public can provide the P&Z with constructive

guidance in revising the land use rules to better control local growth.

Hearings Ahead

In the coming months, the P&Z plans to hold public hearings on revised

criteria concerning open space donations of land in subdivisions, Ms Stocker

said.

Revised open space criteria will provide better guidance to developers in

deciding which sections of their properties constitute suitable land donations

to the town, she said. Such open space donations should fit into the town's

overall open space property network, she said.

The Plan of Development calls for the town acquisition of open space

properties for public use.

The plan's basic open space and recreational goals call for preserving the

unique, rural open character of Newtown, its visual quality, significant

landscapes, and special natural areas. The Plan of Development also calls for

providing continuous "greenways" and linkages that connect components of the

open space system with recreational areas, schools and other community

facilities.

P&Z members believe that wetlands can be valuable open space areas, Ms Stocker

said.

P&Z members also are considering "upzoning" as a way to limit local

development.

Members are considering increasing the minimum lot size for a house from

one-half acre to one acre in areas where there's one-half acre zoning but

where development has not already occurred, Ms Stocker said.

In some other areas with undeveloped land with one-acre residential zoning,

the minimum lot sizes might be increased to two acres, she said.

Calls For Change

In January, the P&Z turned down proposed land use rule changes recommended by

the Newtown Neighborhoods Coalition (NNC). The NNC proposed those changes as

ways to decrease potential residential construction densities and preserve

quality land as open space.

Those proposals included:

Eliminating construction on residential back lots, or interior lots, unless

special permission is granted.

Reducing the number of houses allowed on new dead end streets from the current

15 to 4, and limiting such streets to 750-foot lengths.

Requiring that a minimum 10 percent of "quality" land be set aside as open

space land within new residential subdivisions. Unbuildable land and wetlands

would be excluded as open space.

The NNC's proposed rule changes gave the P&Z a good place to start in making

rule changes, P&Z Chairman John DeFilippe has said.