BRIDGEWATER — After presenting the town's new Plan of Conservation and Development to the public Thursday, Planing and Zoning Commission Chairman Leo Null felt gratified by the reception and satisfied with the results.
"It's moderate," Null said of the plan. "It's not radical."
But as the town's population ages and shrinks, residents must decide how best to maintain the town's character while meeting its perhaps more-than-moderately changing needs.
"There's a lot to be looked at in the future," Null said. "And hopefully we'll get there."
In the town's first Plan of Conservation and Development in 1967, its authors projected the population — spurred in part by the construction of Interstate 84 — would reach 5,000 people by 1980, up from 898 in 1960.
And while the population jumped to 1,277 by 1970, only 1,563 people lived in the town in 1980. Over the last decade, the population dipped 5 percent, landing at 1,727 in 2010. According to the new plan, an aging citzenry has driven this trend, from a median age of 34.6 years old in 1970 to 44.6 in 2000 and 51.3 in 2010.
"What's happening is now we're concerned with the number of households, people living by themselves as they get older," Null said. "This is just a plan to go ahead to address these issues."
Beyond a general desire for diversity, the plan notes the importance of younger residents as volunteers for town boards and the emergency services.
Excluding Bridgewater Commons, a 17-unit condominium complex on Main Street North, single-family homes comprise 97 percent of the town's housing. Bridgewater's population density of 106 people per acre is lowest in the region, and only one new house was built over the last three years, according to the plan.
The members of the commission approved the plan in July and endorsed forming a committee to assess the town's housing needs and recommend solutions. In addition, they suggested revising regulations to increase the number of accessory apartments available to aging residents and their families.
First Selectman William T. Stuart praised the plan in general but expressed skepticism that private developers would ever build senior housing. And he considered it too expensive for the town to build and maintain or for seniors to afford.
"We did a lot of work on housing," Stuart said, noting that if the town accepts a government grant it could not control who moves in. "We designed a spot and did a lot of work on it. The rental is expensive, and seniors can't support it."
He said a decrease in minimum lot sizes wouldn't make it any easier for developers to build because of hilly terrain and the need for soils to support water wells and septic systems. Regardless, he didn't believe the town would ever support such a change.
"I would be very much against it," Stuart said. "And I think a lot of people would be against it."
The revised plan also offers suggestions to encourage more public participation, preserve open space, promote energy conservation, reduce traffic and maintain the village center and the town's rural character.
Null touted the commission's ability to research and write the new plan without paying a consultant. He said he will pass it along to the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials for submission to the state.
"The plan builds on the town's natural assets, the scenic beauty, core values of neighborliness," Null said. "A lot of things we're going to put out there and try to see what people are going to feel is livable."
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