Town Plan offers a vision for the future of the town

SALISBURY — The draft of the 2012 Town Plan of Conservation and Development will be presented at an information meeting Thursday, March 22, at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.The 60-plus page document is a roadmap of how the town will grow and change (or not) in the next decade. The state requires Connecticut towns to have the plans, as a basis for planning and zoning regulations. Towns that do not update their plans can be denied state funding and grants. It’s a wide-ranging document. The draft can be found online at www.salisburyct.us; click on POCD Information under Planning and Zoning.It notes that, “while the plan primarily addresses physical issues, it is also intended to influence the social and eonomic development of the community.”And it is intended to be “a guide for the future of Salisbury.” The introduction highlights some of the tangible and intangible things that town residents say they cherish, including its lakes, hills, natural beauty and community spirit. It notes that the town’s “rugged terrain” has historically had an influence on life here and on patterns of settlement and development. And it stresses that “responsible stewardship of the ecological balance that provides for this habitat diversity are of primary importance to the future of Salisbury.”The Town Plan is a document of the Planning and Zoning Commission, but town residents are urged to weigh in on its contents.Its chapter titles include “Things we want to protect” (such as natural resources and working landscapes); “How we want to guide development” (by enhancing village centers and providing housing options, for example); and “Supporting the community we want to be.” Some highlights: • On page 21, the draft plan calls for promoting a “dark skies” approach to development, noting that “one of the beauties of living in Salisbury is to be able to see so vividly the stars in the inky night sky on a cold clear winter’s night.”• On page 10, there is a recommendation sure to be popular with hunters: “Investigate the options of increasing the hunting season or increasing the use of crop-damage permits to control deer.”• The draft plan asks the town to consider changing the Planning and Zoning Commission by adding two additional elected commissioners (bringing the total to seven), to “provide for a broader range of expertise.”• The draft also brings up the idea of separate planning and zoning commissions, and separate inland wetlands and conservation commissions (currently inland wetlands comes under the Conservation Commission’s authority), and a new Economic Development Commission.