It’s time to revise the Town Plan How will Falls Village grow in the next 10 years?

FALLS VILLAGE — The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has contracted with the Northwestern Connecticut Planning Collaborative to write the update to the Town Plan of Conservation and Development.The town plan forms the basis of the planning and zoning regulations for every town in the state. It is the document that ultimately shapes how a town will grow and look. The state requires towns to update their town plan about once every 10 years.Town residents are encouraged to take part in the process of creating the plan, and to contribute their thoughts about the kinds of development they do and do not want to see. In an effort to get residents of all ages involved, the commission is inviting submissions of art for a postcard that will be mailed to every household in town, listing the ways residents can get involved in the planning process.Interested residents should submit artwork (such as a drawing, painting or photo) that answers the question, “What do you love about Falls Village?”Entries should be on an 8-1/2 by 11-inch piece of paper, and include the artist’s name, age and phone number on the back.Submissions can be brought to Town Hall, the front desk at the Hunt Library, or the main office at the Lee H. Kellogg School.Jocelyn Ayer, who works for the regional planning collaborative, explained that the idea “is to kick off the update, get people thinking about the future of the town for the next 10 years, and get kids involved.”The plan was last updated in 2002. The Connecticut General Statutes require that towns update their plans at a minimum of once every decade. Towns that fail to do so can be disqualified from receiving state funds.The 2002 plan was done with the help of Planimetrics of Avon, Conn. Planner Glenn Chalder held numerous forums and public meetings to try and encourage residents to forge a solid plan for future growth.Focus group sessions for this round of town planning will be held in May and June. A full community forum will be held in October 2011 (at that meeting, all the art submissions will be on display).Ayer cited population projections for Falls Village as one reason for people to get involved. The projections show a net loss of 15 percent (about 153 people) of the town’s population by 2030, with an increase in people of retirement age (about 132 of them) and a “huge decline” in people between the ages of 30 and 64 (a decrease of 250 people).“That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” said Ayer.But it does mean that residents should think hard about what they like about the town — “what should be changed, what should stay the same.”And as the collaborative gets deeper into the plan update, “we’ll look at changes in demographics, we’ll look at things that might not have been hot issues in 2002.”