NEWINGTON - The Newington Town Planning and Zoning Commission (TPZ) has gotten some insight pertaining to transit-oriented development in the town of Windsor and now it wants Newington residents to weigh-in.

       They’ll have the chance to do that at a public meeting scheduled for Sept. 24. Commissioners decided to set a date for the meeting after receiving an informal presentation from Eric Barz, Windsor’s town planner, who came before the body on an invitation from Newington Town Planner Craig Minor.

       â€�"We need to do this,” said Carol Anest, vice chair of the TPZ. â€�"We’re already how many months into a moratorium and we haven’t done anything? I don’t want be spinning our wheels and the public comes in and says, ‘We want something different.’”

       Other commissioners agreed.

       â€�"We definitely need the public input, so let’s get it going,” said Commissioner Stanley Sobieski. â€�"Let’s try to get this done and put to bed.”

       The public meeting will start at 6 p.m. that date and run until 8 p.m., after which the TPZ will move into its regularly scheduled session.

       The TPZ passed a high-density housing development moratorium that applies to the half-mile radius of both the Cedar Street/Fenn Road busway station and the Newington Junction stop. The year-long moratorium at either stop can end before 12 months expire if regulations are drafted before then.

       The moratorium applies more specifically to senior independent living, senior housing, the conversion of older homes, small family entry-level housing and alternate residential building types, but is written to not limit its scope just to these areas.

       As for Windsor, transit-oriented development (TOD) has taken place within a half-mile radius in the center of town. Barz described efforts to incentivize development for certain uses, as well as the establishment of a Design Development Village--different from TOD--where an industrial area meets a busy highway entrance.

       The differences between Newington and Windsor, however, are space and development area location. While Windsor encompasses around 30 square miles, Newington is working with 13 square miles of land that is mostly already developed, commissioners noted.

       There’s also the fact that Newington Junction--expected to be the most complex area to draft regulations for--is not in the Newington Town Center.

       â€�"These areas are not in our main hub,” said Commissioner Anthony Claffey. â€�"We almost have a clean slate on one [Cedar/Fenn Road] and the other you have more residential and I’m assuming more controversy would come from.”