Date: Fri 29-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-upzoning

Full Text:

ED INK: Upzoning Newtown

The Planning and Zoning Commission has begun work on a plan to upzone 2,330

properties in Newtown, hoping to protect groundwater resources in areas that

are at risk of septic contamination through over-development. Upzoning, which

increases the minimum building lot sizes, is a zoning tool that has been

viewed over the years in some towns as a means of keeping homesites large,

expensive, and exclusive -- beyond the reach of the poor, or even people of

modest means, including young couples just starting out and the elderly.

The use of upzoning as a tool for social engineering, however, has been struck

down repeatedly by the courts, and fortunately it is not the intent of

Newtown's zoners to exclude anyone from the opportunities and benefits of

living in Newtown. Their upzoning proposals have evolved from the increasingly

apparent need to protect the town's groundwater resources for future

generations.

The Planning and Zoning Commission's plan will completely eliminate half-acre

zoning in non-sewered areas. For the most part, half-acre zones will be

increased to one-acre zones, except in areas within the town's aquifer

protection district, which would have a new two-acre minimum under the

proposed regulations.

Many of the affected properties lie in the lakeside communities, including

Shady Rest, Pootatuck Park, Riverside, and Cedarhurst, where some of Newtown's

most affordable housing is currently located. If adopted, the new regulations

would increase the cost of new housing in those areas and complicate the lives

of homeowners who want to build additions or make other improvements to their

properties by requiring zoning variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

In making these changes, we hope the Planning and Zoning Commission remembers

that in addition to clean drinking water and an environment free of toxic

threats, Newtown also needs to maintain a range of housing opportunities. In

the future, Newtown will need safe, clean, friendly and affordable

neighborhoods like Shady Rest just as much as it will need the new

neighborhoods of mega-mansions that are now taking shape throughout town. For

each new restriction brought on by environmental concerns, we should be

thinking of new incentives to encourage developers to include one or two

smaller, more affordable homes in every new neighborhood in town.