Census shows Shelton’s tough balancing act

On a rocky hill at the Jones Family Farms, Terry Jones stares out at the city he’s proud to call home.

While pristine forests and bucolic fields spread across the immediate landscape, two 10-story office towers thrust upwards in the distance.

"Where else in Fairfield County do you have this juxtaposition?" Jones said of the view from his family lands. Over a nearby hill is Deer Run Estates, a new subdivision packed with expensive homes.

Over the past few decades, Shelton has been transformed from a mill town on the banks of the Housatonic River to a modern city that a business journal has cited as one of the more favored places to invest in Fairfield County.

Growth and change have been particularly noticeable in the past 10 years.

Data from the U.S. Census shows that Shelton has grown from 35,418 residents in 1990 to 38,101 in 2000, a 7.6 percent jump. In terms of sheer numbers, it has grown more than its neighbors in the Naugatuck Valley, though the percentage growth for the smaller towns of Oxford and Seymour has been greater.

Shelton’s growth has been similar to that of its affluent Fairfield County neighbor, Trumbull, where the population increased 7 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Along with new home construction in the White Hills and Huntington sections of Shelton, there has been robust corporate growth along Bridgeport Avenue and Constitution Boulevard South.

In other areas, the city has taken decisive steps to keep land from being developed.

Residents and city officials claim Shelton’s relatively low mill rate and its location in Fairfield County — home to prestigious corporations and wealthy communities — make it a desirable place for business investment and to make a home.

"It has a small-town feeling without the big-town taxes," Hubbell Lane resident Bobbi DeAngelis said while standing in front of her home on a White Hills cul-de-sac, where homes are priced in the $500,000 range.

The 35-year-old DeAngelis moved here with her husband and three children in January and appreciates the standard of living she has found.

"They don’t cut down all the trees here to make way for the new homes," DeAngelis said. Although construction sounds can be heard on her street, where new houses are still going up, cattle meander on a lot nearby, a reminder of the area’s rural roots.

Early in the 20th century, factories on the Housatonic River drew Southern- and Eastern-European immigrants to town. Now, many new arrivals hail from Asia.

According to the 2000 Census, the city’s Asian community has grown to 791 people, from 455 in 1990, a 74 percent jump. In the small stores and businesses in downtown, it’s not uncommon to find Asian immigrants as managers.

Jeannie Virani, who moved here from India, runs Mill Variety & Video, a convenience store on Howe Avenue.

On a recent day, she chatted with customers from behind her store’s counter, while helping them with lottery tickets.

"People are very friendly here," Virani said.

While a Shelton resident for only seven years, it’s clear that she loves her new home. "I really feel safe here. People look out for me at night," she said.

The natural beauty of the Naugatuck River Valley region is also a draw, she said.

At the Wooster Street Market off Shelton Avenue, Mike Meta, 35, was managing a busy staff of Indians as deli orders piled up.

"The quality of life has improved here in the last decade," said Meta, who is originally from India, but now lives in Bridgeport.

He acknowledged that Shelton is a sharp contrast to his homeland.

There’s more preserved open land here, the streets are not as densely populated, and public facilities are cleaner, he said.

But despite increasing diversity in the population, Shelton remained a predominantly white city between 1990 and 2000.

Racially, 94 percent of the population is white, 1 percent is African-American and 2 percent is Asian; other ethnic groups make up the remaining 3 percent.

Even so, no minorities hold top positions in the city administration, and none are among the top brass of the police and fire departments.

Mayor Mark A. Lauretti said many top officials in city government have held their positions many years, rising up through the rank and file during a time when Shelton was less diverse.

Now that some of those city officials are retiring, Lauretti said, the chances for more diversity in the administration are greater, though it may take some time before minorities play a greater role.

The city’s African-American population grew from 342 residents in 1990 to 428 in 2000, according to the Census.

But more noticeably, Shelton’s Hispanic population jumped from 880 to 1,326. The largest of that group are Puerto Ricans, 598 in the city.

The greater diversity in the population has also become an issue for the school system.

The state Department of Education has cited the city’s school district as being at risk for racial imbalance.

In Shelton’s case, Lafayette Elementary School has too large a minority student population when compared to other elementary schools in the city. The state would like all local schools to have a proportionate share of a district’s minority population.

Supt. of Schools Leon Sylvester said dealing with the imbalance is something school administrators will tackle during the next school year.

As with any expanding community, Shelton deals with growing pains. Some residents resent the traffic that growth has brought to city streets.

Others feel the city government has shortchanged the downtown in favor of new development in Huntington and the Bridgeport Avenue corridor.

For longtime resident William Bures, 53, Shelton’s administration needs to do more for those residing in the city’s older sections, like downtown, where he lives.

"Seven acres of open space in our area are going to be gone soon," Bures said. "We have a stray cat problem that does not go away. When it comes down to it, we get less [service] than before, but the taxes creep up."

Bures points to discussions about moving the Valley’s only homeless shelter to the city and plans for a safe home for abused children being established downtown.

He said it’s hard to imagine such institutions being proposed for affluent areas of Huntington and White Hills.

"What we are here is second-class citizens," Bures said of himself and his downtown neighbors.

But for Republican Mayor Lauretti, the downtown is no stepchild. He wants people to know how active the city is in encouraging investment.

"We have a long-term plan in place that creates stability and viability for the downtown," said Lauretti, who owns a restaurant in the central business district.

During the 1990s, Lauretti worked with the Shelton Economic Development Corp. to redevelop blighted downtown land along the Housatonic River.

Open space along the river has been preserved, a recreational pathway called the "Shelton Riverwalk" has been created, and the Veterans Memorial monument has been erected.

Huntington Street resident Donnette Esposito says the perceived rift between Huntington and downtown is overblown.

"I think it is ridiculous. Huntington has a small neighborhood atmosphere, but it is still Shelton. We are one and the same. When the kids play soccer together in their league, they are not playing Shelton versus Huntington. They are playing together," she said.

One thing that disturbs Esposito about her section of the city is the traffic that has come along with the housing spurt.

So she has formed a grass-roots group to discuss ways to ease congestion.

A 1998 state study showed 16,500 vehicles a day traveled through Huntington Center, where the city’s quaint town green is located. For Esposito, that was evidence quality of life was eroding in Shelton’s quaint corners.

"There has been a huge development boom here. Residential development has added a lot of new families to the city," Esposito said. "But sometimes the city has not been sensitive to infrastructure needs."

The city’s population is more prosperous than 10 years ago. The average household income in Shelton last year was $93,810, a significant rise from $57,619 in 1990, according to Census data.

But for those on fixed incomes, the increasing affluence of their neighbors is cold comfort if they can’t find a place to live.

Even while expensive subdivisions draw well-heeled young families, affordable housing for Shelton’s growing senior citizen population has become a priority for state and city officials.

Between 1990 and 2000, the number of residents between 75 and 84 years old jumped to 2,048 from 1,283, a 60 percent increase, according to Census data. Residents 85 years of age or older grew to 825 from 619 during that same period.

"There are lots of seniors looking for housing," said Ellen Shaw, director of the Shelton Senior Center. "The Shelton Housing Authority has a list of people who need to find housing."

The housing stock is there, insists Carole Mihalick, director of the housing authority, but seniors often turn down units on upper floors that they fear will be hard to access.

A new 30-unit apartment complex for seniors is under construction downtown.

The Ripton, being built with state and federal funds, will strictly be for elderly residents on fixed incomes, said Fred Musante, a city economic development official. It is expected to be completed by October.

The housing authority helps run two other elderly housing facilities, the Helen DeVaux Apartments and Sinsabaugh Heights.

When growth has strained the city’s resources, taxpayers have responded. In 1998, voters approved in referendum a new $32 million middle school, scheduled to open Aug. 30.

Last November, they gave the go-ahead to a $20 million expansion of Shelton’s water treatment facility, along with other water and sewer improvements.

Officials expect the new expanded sewer treatment plant to be finished by 2006, said Tom Sym, the city’s sewer administrator.

"Treatment plants are designed for a 20-year period," Sym said. "The current one was opened in the mid-1960s."

He said the arrival of new businesses along Bridgeport Avenue placed new stress on the city’s water and sewer infrastructure.

"Nobody thought there would be hotels along Bridgeport Avenue," he said.

Preserving the environment in the face of residential and business growth is a common theme in the city.

Several years ago, the city initiated a program called "Protecting Shelton’s Family-owned Farms and Forests," with the goal of preserving the city’s rural characteristics.

Both the city and state committed funding to buy the development rights to a portion of the Jones Family Farms to preserve it as open space. Other farmland owned by the Beardsley family is being eyed for preservation under the program.

Terry Jones is proud of such conservation efforts in his native city.

"This is one of the largest areas of continuous farms in Fairfield County," Jones said while taking in a panoramic view from one of the farm’s hills.

And if the same efforts to preserve land continue, he said, there’s no doubt Shelton will remain the well-balanced community it is today.

Greg Shulas, who covers Shelton, can be reached at 736-5440.