Time to rise and shine
A bedroom community, Seymour strives for more
By FELICIA HUNTER
fhunter@ctpost.com
Arlene Brumer has lived in Seymour for 19 years, but she’s never worked here.
"I love the small-town atmosphere," said the mother of two. But she believes the town offers too few employment opportunities for residents.
So every day Brumer commutes along Route 34 to a medical office in Milford, where she handles insurance billing.
Home by 5 p.m., she touches base with her children, Marc, 14, and Kristen, 11.
But Seymour is no bedroom community to Brumer. She participates in local government to urge changes she believes are necessary, such as attracting more businesses to employ town residents.
"We need to attract more industry," she said. "There’s definitely a need for more retail stores and restaurants here."
Brumer, who is in her 40s, is a member of one of the largest population subgroups in Seymour, according to the 2000 Census.
They are long-term residents who are active in the community, raise their kids here and contribute to the 151-year-old town’s stability.
With children who are teen-agers or younger, they have a vested interest in seeing the town prosper economically educationally and environmentally.
Many, like Brumer, work outside the Naugatuck Valley, a trend apparent in 1990 Census figures and documented in the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s 1998-99 profile of Seymour, the latest state figures available.
According to that study, based on 1990 Census figures, nearly a quarter of all Seymour residents commuted to work. Fewer than one in 10 worked in town.
"Seymour has become more of a commuter, bedroom community over the past 10 years," said Richard Eigen, executive director of the Valley Regional Planning Agency.
Attractive assets
Seymour is a quaint New England town, in the center of New Haven County’s western border.
A river, the Naugatuck, runs through it and Route 8 accompanies it in rough parallel.
That highway divides the historic town center to the east from the hilly woodlands to the west, and provides an easy commute to urban centers.
The town’s natural beauty, highway access and attractive housing prices have beckoned a steady influx of newcomers to make their home here.
Seymour’s total population in 2000 was 15,454, according to the census. That’s an increase of 1,166 residents, or 8.2 percent, over 10 years. Population growth statewide was 3.6 percent statewide and 2.5 percent in New Haven County over the same period.
The latest figures mark an acceleration of population growth over previous decades. Since 1970, the town’s population grew by 893 residents every 10 years, on average.
Although the town has lost many of the industrial jobs that once attracted new residents, it has at least one major drawing point: housing prices.
The median price of a single-family home in Seymour in 1999 was $130,000, compared with $149,900 statewide, according to the DECD.
Housing growth was above average in the early part of the 1990s, and — after leveling off — shows signs it’s on the upswing again, First Selectman Scott Barton said.
Last year, construction began on 38 new homes; recently, a 94-lot subdivision was approved off Botsford Road.
The census figures suggest the town is maintaining its steady population of long-term residents even as it gains new ones.
The median age has gone from 34.7 in 1990 to 38.5 years old.
The greatest age subgroup is 35- to 44-year-olds, who make up 19 percent of the total population. The next largest subgroup is 45- to 55-year-olds, 14 percent of Seymour’s residents.
The numbers for these two groups, when compared with 1990 census figures, suggest they are long-term residents. In 1990 the biggest single subgroup was the 25- to 34-year olds. A decade later the biggest subpopulation is this same group — just 10 years older.
But long-term residents don’t account for the town’s steady growth over the decades.
The census figures also indicate the town is attracting more families with children.
In 1990, there were 1,840 residents who were 9 years old or younger. Ten years later, there were 2,053 in the 10- to 19-year-old subgroup. The increase of 213 suggests about that many children moved into town.
The newcomers are increasingly diverse, although whites still dominate. They form 94.7 percent of the population, compared with 81.6 percent statewide. In 1990, 98 percent of residents were white.
Minority populations are growing even though they’re
still few in number. The number of Asians living in Seymour has more than
doubled since 1990, from 110 to 273. African Americans have nearly
doubled, too, from 114 to 209. The number of Asian-Indian residents has
tripled from 49 in 1990 to 149 today.
Emphasizing education
"There are a lot of new families with more kids," said town resident Debi Napoli.
These families want more emphasis on education: more teachers, bigger school budgets, and a wider variety of classes, she said.
One nod to their needs is the new $32 million middle school on Mountain Road, set to open next month.
It will serve the largest subgroup of the town’s youth, 10- to 14-year-olds. There are 1,089 residents in this category, and they make up 7 percent of the total population. In 1990, there were only 774 residents in that age group.
Middle School Principal Paul Porter noted that at 150,000 square feet, the new school is almost five times the size of its predecessor.
"I’ve always known we need a place where kids can explore and grow," Porter said. "This is the age of the most [student] growth, physically, intellectually and emotionally."
Space at the old middle school on Pine Street was getting so cramped just going class to class became a chore, said 14-year-old Marc Brumer, Arlene Brumer’s son. He will enter Seymour High School in September.
"The halls were jammed all the time," he said, "and there were a lot of kids in one classroom."
The new school will help Marc’s 11-year-old sister, Kristen, and other Seymour youngsters get into a good college and have a successful career, said Arlene Brumer.
"It will give them opportunities to advance," she said.
One unusual feature of the new school is two classroomsdevoted entirely to environmental studies. The curriculum will take advantage of a wooded area behind the school.
"The whole idea is to study our natural environment. Places like the Ansonia Nature Center study the same things we have in our back yard," he said.
Marc Brumer said he enjoys his town. If he doesn’t settle in Seymour after college, he’d like to live in a town just like it.
"I definitely want to live in an area like this," he said. "I like the community, it’s quiet. There are not a lot of cars and you don’t have to worry about too much congestion. You can walk anywhere you want."
Seeds of opportunity
Barton, the first selectman, said he’s made it his "personal mission" to give young people like Marc Brumer a reason to stay when they grow up by attracting businesses where they can work.
Manufacturing, Seymour’s traditional economic backbone, has sagged over the decades.
In 1970, 51 percent of Seymour residents age 16 and over worked in manufacturing. By 1980, that had decreased to 40 percent. And by 1990, the figure was 28.8 percent.
Figures based on the 2000 Census weren’t available, but state figures from 1998-99 show that 28.4 percent of residents worked in manufacturing jobs.
"Like the rest of the Valley, Seymour has grown away from traditional factories," Barton said.
Residents have found opportunity elsewhere, though.
The number of Seymour residents 16 and older working in white-collar jobs has steadily increased, from 40.9 percent in 1970 to 49.4 percent in 1980 to 59.8 percent in 1990, according to Census figures.
Per capita income in Seymour also has increased. The 1980 Census lists it at $7,548. The 1990 Census lists it as $18,031. The DECD lists Seymour’s per capita income for 1998-99 at $23,609.
"We’re evolving away from the blue-collar factory worker and moving more toward white- collar businesses," Barton said.
But William Purcell, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, bristles at the suggestion Seymour is becoming a bedroom community.
"Seymour certainly is a residential community — no question about it," he said. "But there’s also sizable industry.
"From my perspective, you’ve got something more than a bedroom community. You do have site employment," he said.
He touts local employers such as New Haven Copper and the newly opened Stop & Shop Supermarket, as well as businesses at Silvermine Industrial Park.
Frank Stuban, chairman of the Seymour Economic Development Commission, says numerous firms are vying to set up shop in the 26 acres yet to be developed at Silvermine Park.
"We are very, very picky," he said.
Business also is developing a short distance from the park, in Seymour’s downtown hub, Purcell added.
"You have a downtown center that’s emerging as a regional center," he said.
Downtown redux
Madeline Salzano Giori is among the merchants contributing to the downtown revival.
On a triple-H summer day two weeks ago, Giori conducted business, as usual, in her Bank Street gift shop, Treasures of Madeline.
The sticky weather outside didn’t faze her as she went about her duties inside the store, situated at the edge of the popular antiques district.
The building housing her shop, at more than 100 years old, is not unlike others in the district, she said. She points to original hardwood floors and an embellished ceiling as features that attracted her to the space.
They compliment the homemade doilies, 50-year-old chest, antique trunk and other family heirlooms that serve as display pieces around which are placed custom-designed floral arrangements and other items for sale.
"The district is nice," said Giori, who is in her 40’s and has lived in Seymour for the past 20 years. "There are quaint shops, and the atmosphere is good."
She is raising a 9-year-old son with her husband, Michael, in Seymour, and Giori says life in the town is good.
She likes that she can live and work here, she said. The shop, which she started in her home four years ago, "has been a dream of mine for a long time," she said. "This is exactly what I wanted."
Felicia Hunter, Valley bureau chief, can be reached at 736-5441.
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