Date: Fri 26-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Hawleyville-land-use-Adams

Full Text:

Hawleyville Residents Look For Land Use Strategies For The Future

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

In a wide-ranging discussion Wednesday night, Planning and Zoning Commission

(P&Z) Chairman Stephen Adams explained to a Hawleyville property owners group

the why's and wherefore's of local land use rules as they regulate

residential, commercial and industrial development.

Mr Adams told about 35 members of the North Newtown Homeowners Association at

the Hawleyville Firehouse that the P&Z doesn't plan to initiate any changes of

zone in Hawleyville while a consultant's planning study of the area is

underway during the coming year.

Although the P&Z doesn't plan to initiate any changes of zone for Hawleyville

during the coming year, that wouldn't prevent an applicant from requesting a

change of zone for land there which the P&Z would then be required to review

and act upon.

The Housatonic Valley Economic Development Council has hired a Hamden planning

consultant to study Hawleyville's development potential in terms of traffic,

transportation facilities and industry. The study will review the possible

creation of bus routes and bikeways for Hawleyville, as well as a possible

widening of Route 25.

The town's 1993 plan of development identifies Hawleyville as an area of

future economic development.

The type of industrial development envisioned for Hawleyville is not of the

19th-century "smokestack" variety, but of the high-technology type, such as

communications and office parks, according to Mr Adams.

Hawleyville became a focus of attention last summer when Joy Brewster sought

to change the zoning on an 80-acre parcel from residential to industrial to

allow it to become the site for a 100,000-square-foot exposition center. In

the face of strong opposition to the change of zone by Hawleyville residents,

the P&Z denied the requested change of zone, halting planning for the project.

Design District

Mr Adams described aspects of the Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) mixed-use

zone which P&Z members created last summer for Sandy Hook Center.

"A design district is really what you make of it," he said of interest among

some Hawleyvile residents in creating such a zoning designation for a section

of Hawleyville.

SHDD zoning was created to spur the economic revitalization of Sandy Hook

Center by liberalizing the land uses permitted there. The P&Z created a second

SHDD zone for Rocky Glen Mill on April 18.

A design district in Hawleyville would be shaped to foster the land uses

considered beneficial for that section of town.

To formulate regulations for a Hawleyville design district, the P&Z would

assemble a committee of P&Z members and Hawleyville property owners to

consider new land uses, similar to the partnership created between the P&Z and

the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP) which formulated the SHDD

rules, according to Mr Adams.

"Everything's on the table. Evereything's open," he said.

Future of Newtown

Homeowner association members asked Mr Adams what he expects Newtown to be

like in the future.

More people will live here in 2016, he said. "We'll continue to grow

residentially. There's no doubt about it," he said.

Attracting high technology industries to town would bring some property tax

stabilization as the population continues to expand, he said.

Most newcomers seek the town's semi-rural quality, but as more residents

appear, the tide of suburbanization washes into Newtown, he said.

Among the various properties available on the real estate market, Newtown is a

desirable place to live, he noted.

Ted Rudisill, a homeowner association member and a member of the town's

Economic Development Commission, said "I think people want to slow the growth

a little bit."

Mr Rudisill suggested that to slow development, the P&Z require that

developers designate as open space land more property than the current 10

percent of acreage in residential subdivisions, perhaps reserving 30 percent

of the land in subdivisions as open space.

So, instead of designating 5 acres of land in a 50-acre subdivision as open

space, 15 acres would be reserved as such, thus slowing the rate of growth.

Mr Adams, a lawyer, replied that state courts have agreed that requiring

developers to designate 10 percent of subdivision land as open space is

reasonable, but increasing the percentage to as high as 30 percent would

probably be viewed by the courts as tantamount to confiscating land from

developers.

As a means to address the pace of residential growth, the P&Z is considering

possible "upzoning" to increase the minimum lot sizes for home building in

variously-sized residential zones, he said.

The rationale for increasing minimum lot sizes would involve the effects of

that home development has on soil quality and underground water supplies, he

said. Land use agencies legally cannot increase the minimum size of building

lots simply to reduce the growth rate, he said.

The P&Z is seeking information from the health department on soil quality and

water quality as they are affected by building lot sizes, Mr Adams said.

Asked how the homeowners association can protect Hawleyville's interests, Mr

Adams replied "Staying vigilant and staying involved is the best thing you can

do."