Town Planner Presents Zoning Draft Around Busway Stations
NEWINGTON - A draft of zoning regulations for the half-mile radius of Newington’s Cedar/Fenn Road CT FasTrak busway station involves the establishment of an overlay district--an area in which incentives are offered to developers that bring proposals compliant with yet-to-be-determined guidelines for what constitutes desirable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).

       Town Planner Craig Minor presented the early stage draft at the Town Planning and Zoning Commission’s (TPZ) Jan. 13 regular meeting. The commission has opted to focus on the Cedar/Fenn Road station before pursuing the establishment of separate regulations for the Newington Junction area.

       Under the tentative regulations, the area would maintain its industrial zoning, with a special permit process for developers looking to propose projects under a different use. Incentives, such as density regulation waivers, could be offered to projects determined to fit the community’s vision for development in the area, Minor said.

       â€"That would involve applicants explaining why what they want to do is TOD; why it complements the opportunity we have, which is CT FasTrak,” he said.

       And the public would weigh-in through hearings that would be held for each application, said TPZ Chair Frank Aieta.

       Exactly what constitutes good transit-oriented development is something the TPZ is still trying to determine. The commission has been pursuing a visual preference survey designed to get a feel for what town residents would like to see, but the consensus for now is that medical offices or high-tech research companies may benefit the area, commissioners have said.

       â€"We know we can’t make them come, but if we encourage them, that might be a good way to do it,” Minor said.

       An overlay zone also allows for some flexibility, Aieta said.

       â€"It allows for commercial. It allows for industrial,” he said. â€"It’s a wide-sweeping zone.”

       So for now, the commission will continue to discuss Minor’s draft, with public hearings on the proposal to come.

       The TPZ is in the midst of a 12-month high-density housing moratorium put in place to allow time for zoning regulations to be crafted for the town’s FasTrak busway stations without the arrival of residential development applications. The moratorium was instituted in response to resident concerns regarding the perceived potential for high-density housing development to increase the demand for town services in a municipality struggling to bring in property tax-mitigating Grand List dollars.
MORE NEWINGTON NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Jan 20 2016  |  COMMENTS?