A developing Situation
Growth spurt leads town to consider allowing businesses to offset taxes
By BILL BITTAR
Easton, an enclave of rolling woodlands, pristine reservoirs and scenic farms — perhaps the most rural town in southern Fairfield County — is something of a paradox.
The natural charms that make the town a desirable place to live, particularly for families seeking a wholesome atmosphere, may be proving too alluring.
With the 2000 U.S. Census figures showing a spurt in growth over the last decade — especially among the young — Easton faces rising pressure to provide more education and recreation facilities. To help pay for such projects and lessen the tax burden on home owners, the town is also beginning to grapple with whether to permit commercial development — something that is prohibited under existing zoning regulations.
But even in the 21st century, change is not likely to come quickly to Easton. Town leaders, paying heed to the community’s tradition of resisting change, are proceeding with caution.
"I don’t think we’ve had any real significant, startling change," First Selectman William Kupinse said about the past two decades. "What’s happened is there has been a gradual build-up in the school population."
The latest Census recorded 2,177 residents younger than 19, accounting for close to 30 percent of the town’s total population of 7,272.
Easton’s population has grown by 15 percent since 1990, when the Census counted 6,219 residents. By comparison, the town’s population grew by 5.9 percent in 1990, from 5,895 in 1980, and by only 1.3 percent in 1980, from 4,862 residents in 1970.
Community life
The Chung family is among the newcomers attracted to Easton.
Karen Gunther-Chung, 38, was pregnant with her daughter, Chloe, when she and her husband, Hoon Chung, 42, moved to Easton seven years ago.
"At the time, you could purchase a larger house, with more acreage, at a better value here than in Westport or Fairfield," Gunther-Chung said of the family’s move from Mahwah, N.J.
She quickly immersed herself in community activities. The former PTA chairwoman now serves on the Library Board.
Gunther-Chung didn’t know her neighbors in New Jersey. But here, with annual community events like Easton Day and the Firemen’s Carnival, she said she feels like she knows half the town.
The Chungs enjoy the natural beauty of Easton. Gunther-Chung stops to watch flocks of wild turkeys while picking up her daughter at school. They also have herds of deer wandering through their back yard.
The Chungs also say they are willing to pay for good schools and a new senior center, as long as the money is spent wisely. An important reason the couple supports a quality school system is that their daughter, now 7 years old, is a second-grader at Staples Elementary School.
Gunther-Chung owns two "Grandma’s House" children’s stores, one in Fairfield and the other in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport.
Hoon Chung, a businessman, is Korean and one of 171 Asians in town, according to the 2000 Census. But Easton, according to the latest data, remains predominantly white, comprising 97.3 percent of the overall population.
Other racial groups represent only tiny shares of the population, with the data showing 20 African-Americans in town, 14 native Americans and 33 residents whose racial background is categorized as "other." There also are 128 Hispanics, considered an ethnicity by the Census rather than a race.
Community loyalty
In addition to new residents, others who were raised in Easton continue to enjoy the town enough to remain there.
Roger Granfors, 39, an Easton native, also supports spending for the school system. He and his wife, Donna, have two children enrolled at Staples.
"It’s a great place," Granfors said while looking at movies to borrow in the Easton Public Library with his children. "That’s why I want to raise my kids here."
A toolmaker by trade, Granfors said several of his former Easton classmates are also raising their children in town. And the children have some of the same teachers their parents once had.
"They have very good teachers," Granfors said. "Some have stayed for 30 years, and there’s a reason why they stay."
Granfors also praised Parks & Recreation Director Gary Simone for offering a wide range of programs. Granfors’ children, Nicholas, 8, and Courtney, 6, play soccer, and his wife has taken up tennis.
But the growing enrollment in the schools has spurred several costly building projects.
Supt. of Schools Kenneth Freeston said 750 children were enrolled in Easton schools in 1993 and that number is expected to be close to 1,350 by 2010. While neighboring Redding’s student population has hit a plateau, there is no end in sight for Easton, he added.
"It forces a small town to expend a lot on capital expenditures and increases the number of services needed," Freeston said.
The town’s growing number of teen-agers attend Joel Barlow High School in Redding, a regional school shared by Easton and Redding. Construction on a $28.5 million renovation and addition project at Barlow began this summer.
Meanwhile, construction workers are completing an $11.3 million renovation and addition project at Helen Keller Middle School, and six portable classrooms were erected to alleviate overcrowding at Staples.
The fifth-grade classes have been moved to Keller this year to free up space at Staples.
And, in longer-range planning, educators hope to replace Staples with a new elementary school on Morehouse Road by 2004. A building committee has already been appointed.
The school will be built on a 136-acre parcel of farmland on Morehouse Road recently bought by the town for $8.75 million.
Changing landscape
The vast, weed-covered field is an apt symbol of the town’s changing landscape, as farmers regularly get offers to sell their land to private developers.
Nonetheless, large tracts of Easton’s woodlands will remain preserved as open space.
That’s because about 5,600 acres will be set aside with the state’s $90 million purchase last year of more than 15,300 acres of watershed property around the state from Kelda Group.
But the Morehouse Road farm was headed for residential development before the town stepped in. It once was owned by Arthur L. Clark, before he turned it over to his daughter Prudence and her husband, Fred B. Candee. The Candees sold it to Charles Stetson in 1968.
Stetson, in turn, won Planning & Zoning Commission approval last November to build 28 luxury homes on the site, before the town moved to acquire it.
In addition to building a new school, the large parcel will be utilized for other town needs, such as a new senior center or much-needed playing fields.
Across the street, customers at Candee Farm continue to pick raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and several varieties of peppers throughout the growing season.
Business was good on a recent afternoon, as the Candees weighed the produce, which is being sold along with sweet corn.
But rising property taxes and cost of equipment have made it increasingly difficult to operate a farm.
"We have the equipment, so it’s pretty well mechanized," Fred B. Candee, 71, said of his pick-your-own farm. "We get by with as little labor as possible.
"It would be impossible to buy it the farm today and start from scratch."
Saving the farms
As a result, the town is trying to find incentives for farmers to hold onto their land.
The P&Z is reviewing a proposed amendment on "special uses complementary to open space preservation" that would apply to 30-acre parcels, and allow limited office, research and conservation-related uses on a small portion of agricultural properties.
Philip Snow, whose family has worked the 60 acres of Snow’s Farm on Sport Hill Road for the past 89 years, has previously spoken in support of the measure.
"There’s not a farmer in town who wouldn’t like the idea of making more income," he said. "It’s cheaper for the town to have farms here. Farms take nothing from a town and they’re beautiful to look at."
Sal Gilbertie, owner of Gilbertie’s Herb Gardens on Adams Road, also supports the farm-preservation effort. He hopes to rent out office space in one of his barns.
The town’s few businesses — Greiser’s Store, Easton Village Store, Bluebird Inn and BHC Apple Barn — all pre-date existing zoning regulations. They are small operations, reflecting their roots in what was a small, rural community.
The Board of Selectmen formed an Economic Sources Committee to review ways in which the town’s tax base might be increased, without causing significant change to the town’s rural character.
But Kupinse, who moved to Easton in 1977 when he felt the Huntington section of Shelton was becoming too commercial, does not believe the establishment of a commercial zone would provide a significant economic boost.
Kupinse said Easton’s tax rate is comparable to surrounding towns that have commercial zoning. Easton’s current tax rate of 28.2 mills stacks up against neighboring communities as follows: Monroe, 27.95 mills; Trumbull, 23.9 mills, and Fairfield, 29.2 mills.
Hugh Pedersen, 86, an Easton resident of 43 years, favors bringing some business to town.
"We don’t have a liquor store. We don’t have a barber. We don’t have a bank," he said. "Why can’t we have a nice colonial center? Some people have a lot of money, but have to go out of town to spend it."
Fellow senior Anthony Casubolo, sitting with his friend Pedersen at the Easton Senior Center, agreed.
But many residents are uneasy about allowing even limited commercial zoning.
"It’s a good idea," Granfors said. "But you’re opening a Pandora’s box. Once you allow one thing in, you have to let everything in."
Granfors said he doesn’t mind shopping outside town because Newtown and Fairfield are within short driving distances.
"Being in lower Easton, I’m on the Merritt [Parkway] within three minutes," Gunther-Chung said. "I can go shopping in five minutes. I don’t mind not having [a shopping center] up here. We don’t have the traffic."
As residents ponder whether commercial zoning regulations should be adopted, Bill Tustian, owner of the Easton Village Store, has hopes of expanding his non-conforming business.
Tustian wants to add seating in the rear of his store and add an outside patio to expand his catering business to restaurant use. But he has not yet filed an application with P&Z.
Population shift
While town leaders try to find ways to increase the tax rolls, senior citizens living on fixed incomes are feeling the squeeze of a higher cost of living and rising taxes brought on by capital projects.
When seniors leave town, school expenses usually go up.
"The sale of farm parcels isn’t causing the problem, or new construction," said Kupinse, the first selectman. "The real difference is people selling their houses and people with children buying them."
Easton’s senior population has more than quadrupled over the last several decades, from 201 in 1970 to 619 in 1980, 854 in 1990 and 967 in 2000, according to Census figures.
But Easton Senior Center Director Val Buckley doesn’t believe Easton’s senior citizen population is growing as quickly as the number of older adults in other communities.
"In the past two or three years, it’s been obvious through studies in the senior center that very few seniors ever move into town," Buckley said, "and that those living here are selling their houses for many different reasons."
She said seniors move because they are apprehensive about rising taxes, because of the cost of living, while some are physically unable to maintain their homes, and others want to profit by selling out.
"But you don’t cash in too much," Buckley said, "because smaller housing is also frightfully expensive."
There is also no housing designed for older adults in Easton that might be option for them to consider.
However, Eastland LLC has proposed the construction of 76 units of housing for people 55 years old and over on 29 acres of South Park Avenue land. The project, which would be the first of its kind in town, has a long road to travel for approval.
About 30 people expressed concerns over the project in a public hearing held by the Conservation Commission last week.
Meanwhile, the Board of Selectmen will appoint a Tax Relief for the Elderly Commission at its Thursday meeting. The existing tax relief program is reviewed every three years.
"I think we have to do something drastic to enable seniors to stay in Easton," Buckley said, "because if families with children move in, they will add to a rise in school costs."
Seniors at the center recently gave high marks to the school system and expressed strong affection for the town, but agreed something must be done for seniors who need a hand.
Pedersen advocates a tax freeze for seniors, but vows to stay in town no matter what.
"It’s an expensive town to live in," he said, "but it’s worth it."
Bill Bittar, who covers Monroe and Easton, can be reached at 330-6418.
+ Census 2000 Website
+ Census
Data
Census says "Asians on the Rise"
By town:
-
Easton
Each week a new town!
