Town fails to change business separation

NEW MILFORD - No Wendy's restaurant. No new gas station/convenience store. No more car dealerships.

Under New Milford's zoning regulations, none of these businesses can be built downtown or on southern Route 7. That's because similar businesses are already there, and the rules prohibit new retailers from selling the same types of goods within a mile. Members of the Zoning Commission considered changing the rules, but for now let them stand, saying there are too many questions about what would happen if the regulations are changed. Mayor Patricia Murphy, a former Zoning Commission member, asked the board to consider adjusting the rules. Murphy said the one-mile limit is interfering with economic development. Murphy proposed that at least the rules could be revised so that some now-banned businesses could build in vacant lots or in shopping centers within the one-mile range. Economic Development Commission member Elaine Barksdale argued that the regulation allows for some businesses to have a monopoly in heavily traveled parts of town. But others who spoke at a recent meeting said that without the zoning limits, the town would have little control over commercial sprawl. Commission Chairman George Doring said he did not want to change the regulation because alternatives have not yet been carefully thought out. Commission member Steve Paduano said the rules should remain in place until the Route 7 widening is complete. Brooks Temple, another member of the commission, favored keeping the regulation to prevent sprawl. But he said the rules might be reworked so that no business owners would have a town-sanctioned monopoly. The final vote was 4-1 against killing the regulation. Commission member Eleanor Florio voted in favor of the change.

Contact Nanci G. Hutson

at nhutson@newstimes.com

or at (203) 731-3339.