Date: Fri 27-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Adams-P&Z-chairman-resignation

Full Text:

Adams Bids Farewell To Fellow P&Z Commissioners

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Outgoing Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) Chairman Stephen Adams informed

P&Z members September 19 of his resignation from the land use agency.

Mr Adams presented a copy of a letter he had submitted to Town Clerk Cynthia

Curtis Simon last week making his resignation effective at noon September 20.

"It has been the highest honor and privilege to serve the Town of Newtown and

its residents as a member of this vital commission for nearly three years now.

Unfortunately, I feel that I can no longer give the time to the position that

it deserves due to family and professional considerations," Mr Adams wrote in

the brief letter.

Mr Adams spoke to P&Z members in the compact Town Hall South conference room,

a much smaller space than the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall and the

Newtown Middle School auditorium where recent P&Z public hearings have been

held to accommodate the large crowds attending.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow made a motion to accept Mr Adams' resignation with

regret, expressing gratitude for his leadership.

Mr Adams, a lawyer and Sandy Hook resident, became chairman last January. The

former Republican Town Chairman also served terms as a P&Z regular member and

an alternate member.

John DeFilippe, who P&Z members have elected as vice chairman, is expected to

become the panel's new chairman.

Mr DeFilippe said Mr Adams has worked tirelessly in his post of chairman.

"It's Newtown's loss that Steve is stepping down," Mr DeFilippe said.

He said the recent controversies surrounding the P&Z and development proposals

have made for "a very, very difficult time."

During the past six months, P&Z members have become involved in controversies

over residential development proposals. Members of various neighborhood groups

maintain they should be protected from additional home construction in their

areas, while developers maintain they should be allowed to build their

projects because the proposals meet the town's land use regulations.

Dissatisfaction with the town's land use rules has led to a citizens' drive to

revise the rules with an eye toward making it more difficult to build.

"I do hope you come back" to participate in land use planning for the town, Mr

DeFilippe told Mr Adams.

"You guys are all excellent people to work with," Mr Adams told P&Z members.

Mr Adams has said he would like to help the P&Z plan for future land uses at

Fairfield Hills, a 650-acre, state-owned property in the center of Newtown

which no longer is used as a psychiatric hospital.

Mr Adams said he regrets not having completed the land use planning for the

Fairfield Hills property.

"It's crucial. Its' absolutely crucial. We don't know what's going to happen

up there. And we have to be prepared," he said of Fairfield Hills.