Date: Fri 12-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Greenways-Fetzer

Full Text:

Greenways Panel Tries To Regain Its Momentum

BY STEVE BIGHAM

The Greenways Committee met Tuesday night and tried to regain some of the

momentum it lost six months ago when it sustained a crushing blow to its

cause.

The committee hopes to develop a trail system, connecting the town's open

spaces in a greenway stretching from Huntingtown State Park on the Redding

border to the upper and lower Paugusett State Forests. It was hoping to get

$400,000 from Iroquois Gas Transmission System to help get the project off the

ground. However, the Legislative Council last June voted to use that money to

buy a 13-acre parcel on Elm Drive, adjacent to Dickinson Park.

For Gary Fetzer, Greenways Committee chairman, the decision was a

double-whammy. Not only did his committee lose the seed money, but he said the

issue hurt his chances this past summer when he made an unsuccessful bid for

first selectman. Many Newtown residents, especially those with young children,

lobbied hard for the town to buy the land, citing a lack of ball fields, etc.

The land along Elm Drive is expected to eventually be turned into a park, with

a wildlife preserve and two ball fields.

Mr Fetzer, on the other hand, urged the council to direct the money toward

greenways. As he pointed out, Bob Cascella, then-first selectman, had promised

that the money would be used for the purchase of open space. Mr Fetzer did not

argue against purchasing the Amaral property. He was simply speaking out in

favor of greenways. At a council hearing in June, Mr Fetzer was alone in his

thinking.

"I was surrounded by the park people. I was lucky to get out of the room

alive," said Mr Fetzer, mostly joking. "I knew I was losing votes when I made

those comments."

Mr Fetzer said every consultant from the state and private industry has stated

the importance of the Greenways Committee making small steps so that residents

can realize the importance of open-space acquisition. The money from Iroquois

was supposed to be used to make these small steps, he said.

"The $400,000 wasn't going to buy a lot of land, but it was sort of going to

prime the pump," he said. "Hopefully the town can become more active in

identifying open-space acquisition."

The Greenways Committee will continue to move forward, though Mr Fetzer said

it will now be more difficult to ask the town for money for the Greenways

plan.

On Tuesday, however, Mr Fetzer proposed that the Greenways Committee go before

the Planning & Zoning Commission to recommend that the Joint Open Space

Subcommittee be re-established.

The Joint Open Space Sub-committee, created in 1976, included people like

Julia Wasserman, Art Spector, Ted Whippie, Barbara O'Connor and Dave Thompson.

Its purpose was to start the open-space function of the Conservation

Commission. The committee, which actually served as a sort of Greenways

Committee, would look at the 10 percent of open space that developers were

setting aside to determine if it was a viable space. The board was made up of

members of both the P&Z and Conservation Commission. It disbanded back in the

1980s. Mr Fetzer wants to bring it back and have the Greenways Committee

become that unofficial arm of the land-use review process.

"Right now, there's nothing," Mr Fetzer said. "If the town is getting open

space, P&Z can go out and look at it, but it needs to determine if the open

space contributes to the greenways. Right now, Greenways is the only board

that knows where all these sections are."

The Greenways Committee is also looking at other sources of funding. Mr Fetzer

said there are some towns that allow developers to make a contribution to

greenways in lieu of giving open space. Mr Fetzer said he was unsure if

Newtown allowed that. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said he had not been

informed of Mr Fetzer's plan to re-establish the Joint Open Space

Subcommittee.

Mr Fetzer became chairman of the Greenways Committee when it was established

by the Board of Selectmen in October, 1995. His future as chairman still must

be determined now that he is no longer a selectman. Mr Rosenthal said he plans

to review all of his appointments in January.