This Week: Vote on $2.8 Million Sewer Project

[Editor's note: this article was originally published earlier this month.]

Newtown voters will decide the fate of a $2.8 million sewer project during a special Town Meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m.

It's a project years in the making — and one that officials say could give Newtown a significant economic jolt.

The project would build a sewer line in the Hawleyville section of town, along a section of Route 6 and onto a portion of Route 25. Officials say the project will open up a world of possibility for development in the area, which is just off exit 9 on Interstate 84.

But before the project can move forward, residents have to decide if they want to take out a loan for $2.8 million to pay for it. You'll have that opportunity during a Town Meeting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, at the municipal center at Fairfield Hills.

As spelled out in the bond resolution, the specific areas that would be served by the sewer line are Route 6, west of Whipporwill Hill Road to Splendid Place, and along Route 25 to serve a section of Covered Bridge Road.

First Selectman Pat Llodra says the area contains three sizable properties that are "poised for development" — one is 100 acres, another is 40 acres, and a third is 33 acres.

The town has missed out on the development of those properties because of the absence of sewer lines, she says, recalling that talk of putting sewers in there has been ongoing for several years. Setting the stage for development, by constructing the sewer lines, will ultimately help create a better balance of the town's Grand List — to take some of the tax burden off of residents, Llodra says.

"I'm concerned about that balance," she says. "We need more presence in our Grand List."

Hal Kurfehs, chairman of the Western CT Economic Development Alliance, says the sewer project would give the area a needed jolt.

Kurfehs says anyone looking to develop a large parcel like those in the Hawleyville area is not going to put it in their playbook if it doesn’t have sewer lines. 

"It’s not cheap," he says. 

As for the town, Kurfehs says: "It’s like any investment … it can go south or it can blossom. You’re taking a risk, and if it turns out well you're a hero, and if it doesn't, you're something else.”