Plan will do little to change Easton

2/26/07

Months after a rare municipal controversy, Easton appears headed toward its long-overdue update of the town's Plan of Conservation and Development. Following a process that many residents feared could alter the face of the town, officials are ready to approve a plan that will hardly change anything.

While master plans require updating every 10 years, Easton has continued working under the 1977 version. But with town statutes forbidding commercial development, there seemed little reason to rush. With only a few stores, restaurants and gas stations that predate the anti-commercial regulations, there was little likely to change.

But state law mandates an update, and town leaders' proposal to institute so-called village districts into the master plan put people on edge. It seemed, although officials denied this, that the districts could have opened the door for development in the fiercely stable town.

They needn't have worried. Village districts, had they come to pass, would not in any way have required commercial development, and, in any case, would have been superceded by the stringent zoning restrictions. Easton was never going to turn into a strip-mall paradise.

And that is for the best. There are enough retail centers to satisfy almost anyone around here, from Route 1 in Milford to the shopping centers of Trumbull and the budding big boxes in the Valley. Easton wanted to protect itself from the commercial onslaught, and they have succeeded.

While public interest was high during the debate over village districts, with most everyone vehemently against them, debate has since returned to almost nothing. While the districts likely would not have had anywhere near the impact people feared, it is good to know people in the quiet town will still gather to make their feelings known. It would be nice to see this incident spark greater interest in public government — which, even in the absence of commercial development, still plays a key role in everyday life — but that is probably too much to ask.

As it is, Easton residents can claim victory. That 90,000-square-foot Super Stop & Bed Bath and Borders Target-Mart will have to find somewhere else to call home.