Date: Fri 21-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

charter-revision-P&Z

Full Text:

Charter Panel Weighs Splitting The P From The Z

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Several residents showed up at Tuesday's meeting of the Charter Revision

Commission to speak in favor of a proposal to split the Planning and Zoning

Commission into two boards, saying the town needs to do more planning in order

to better regulate its growth.

A planning commission administers a town's rules and regulations on proposed

subdivisions, but as the residents pointed out, the town's P&Z Commission is

often lacking in the P.

"We just feel the Planning and Zoning Commission is inundated with work.

They're doing a super job, but there's just too much coming at them," said

Penny Meek, who was one of several representatives on hand from the Newtown

Neighborhoods Coalition. "Newtown has become too big, and it's missing every

angle in planning."

Joe Borst, a former chairman of the P&Z Commission, also spoke in favor of

splitting the commission in two.

Last week, charter panel member Mae Schmidle moved for a formal separation of

the commissions planning and zoning functions. However, before voting,

commission members requested more information on state statutes concerning

planning and zoning; the responsibilities of the separate commissions; and the

experiences of other towns with separate commissions.

"I firmly believe in splitting the P&Z. They have a case load they can't keep

up with," Mrs Schmidle said this week. "That's what the Charter Revision

Commission is about. If you have a part of government that doesn't work, you

do something about it."

Mrs Schmidle acknowledged the problems currently going on in Brookfield, where

the Planning Commission and Zoning Commission are often in contention.

However, she said that struggle for power appears to be politically motivated.

David Chipman, who was not present at Tuesday's meeting, has requested that a

vote on the issue not take place until he is in attendance.

Mrs Schmidle is also concerned that Newtown's P&Z uses no outside or private

consultants. As she points out, this year's proposed budget includes no money

for independent consultants, which means that the commission must make a

decision based only on what developers or their consultants present to them,

and local residents impacted by development must hire their own consultants to

protect themselves from the town.

This year's budget does ask for $8,500 for traffic studies, but that will not

help with any development applications, Mrs Schmidle said.

According to statistics compiled by Mrs Schmidle, Southbury has budgeted

$40,000 for consultants this year, while Redding earmarked $30,000. Brookfield

budgeted $9,008 for consultants this year after previous budgets of $38,000

and $23,000. With development slowing up there, the town has reportedly

reduced the funds for private consultants in recent years.

Last week, the charter panel also unanimously approved a proposal by Greg

Winokur to empower the Board of Police Commissioners to also act as the town's

traffic authority.