Community Facilities Report Slated For Public Hearing

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed text of the “community facilities” section of the Town Plan of Conservation and Development, which is under revision.

The hearing is slated for 7:30 pm, Thursday, September 6, at the Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street. Based on public comments made at the hearing, the P&Z may alter the content of the community facilities document.

The wide-ranging 24-page community facilities text, which includes photos of local facilities, is available for review at the Land Use Agency at the municipal center.

The text categorizes various local facilities, both public and private. The document includes recommendations on how the public facilities may be maintained and improved in the coming decade in light of expected future changes to the town.

The P&Z approved the current town plan in 2004. Although such documents typically are updated every ten years, town officials have expedited the revision, opting to publish the revised plan by late 2012, instead of 2014.

The community facilities document addresses a major component of the municipal infrastructure — the public school system.

Past increases in the public school student population required several school system expansion and improvement projects, including the construction of Reed Intermediate School, which opened nearly ten years ago, it states.

The Board of Education’s school enrollment projections indicate a slow decline in student population for the foreseeable future, meaning that no new educational facilities will be required for the next ten years, it adds.

Since the current town plan was published in 2004, the town has rebuilt the athletic field complex behind Newtown High School, constructed a major addition to the high school, and has installed a new roof at Newtown Middle School, as well as added a portico there.

The community facilities document also addresses the town’s extensive parks and recreational facilities.

The town has significantly expanded its recreational facilities and activities during the past 30 years to keep pace with population growth and with changing recreational desires in the community, according to the P&Z.

The town has concentrated its recreational resources at large centralized locations. When funding becomes available, the town should consider creating relatively small parks throughout town, known as “pocket parks,” to serve the residents of various neighborhoods, the report states.

The report also addresses local facilities for senior citizens. While in the past senior centers were basically social and recreational facilities, they have evolved to become bases for providing a variety of informational and social services to their users.

The community facilities report addresses many other subjects, including the town’s two sanitary sewer systems, the six aquifers that provide potable water to individual properties and to public water supply systems, fire protection, emergency medical services, police protection, law enforcement, the public library, town roads, public works, and solid waste disposal.

The town plan is an advisory document that provides the P&Z with general guidance in its decisionmaking. P&Z approvals or rejections of land use applications typically state whether a given application respectively adheres to or diverges from the tenets of the town plan when P&Z members state their reasons for a decision.

The current town plan addresses a broad range of issues facing the town, including: community character, conservation, natural resources, open space, housing, economic development, community facilities, and transportation. The document lists a wide variety of planning goals for the town.