When we talk local elections, we usually discuss tax rates and the quality of the town's school system.

The old political adage is that "people vote their pocketbooks."

No doubt, this month's municipal election returns included both those elements, but in some communities there was also an underlying subtle issue that rarely stands out: land use.

Despite a generally low voter turnout (the statewide average in the 163 communities conducting elections was just under 38 percent), Connecticut's municipal elections spawned a host of surprises.

And when we talk surprises in Connecticut elections — the land of steady incumbents — we're talking upsets.

Several of these upsets came about, I would submit, because of land use issues in the communities.

Take Derby, for example, where Republican Anthony Staffieri decisively beat four-term Democratic Mayor Marc Garofalo.

Although internal party politics was an influencing factor in Garofalo's defeat, few can deny that Derby's downtown redevelopment area for the past four years easily could be mistaken for Iraq's Falluja.

Voters aren't dumb. They can see the lack of progress and ask, "What's going on here?"

The party in power can get away with it perhaps for one election, but when little has changed by the next election, it's goodbye to incumbents.

Even Garofalo conceded that the lack of progress on the downtown redevelopment cost him the election.

"I take responsibility for it," he

Advertisement
told a Connecticut Post reporter. "There are no excuses for it."

Similarly, an eyesore called the Saw Mill Redevelopment Area in West Haven was a contributing factor to the demise of incumbent H. Richard Borer as chief executive in that town.

Land use was a high profile issue in the small neighboring town of Orange.

Two years ago Democratic First Selectman Mitchell Goldblatt supported a successful effort for acre-and-a-half zoning, a move that angered owners of farmland, obviously because you can get more houses on one-acre lots than 1.5-acre lots.

This Election Day, Goldblatt's opponent, GOP Selectman James Zeoli, was a farmer and Zeoli ousted Goldblatt by a 143-vote margin out of the 6,423 votes cast.

Perhaps also adding to the victory was the decision to bring a Stew Leonard's to Orange, a move supported by Goldblatt and opposed by Zeoli. It's been a long-playing soap opera that has divided the town and didn't build a lot of goodwill for the incumbent.

In Shelton, Republican Mayor Mark Lauretti won an eighth consecutive two-year term, although his margin of victory was significantly less than in 2003.

One of the reasons for that: Lauretti's decision to become a developer and purchase property along the Housatonic River in Shelton. His purchase ended up plunging him into a time-consuming controversy about the ethics of the deal.

All of this is not to say that land use as an issue can't help incumbents, despite what this year's voters seemed to be saying.

In Easton, incumbent First Selectman William J. Kupinse Jr.'s strong position this campaign against commercial development in this rural town that adjoins the metropolis of Bridgeport strengthened his power.

Kupinse not only succeeded in winning re-election rather handily, the GOP regained the seat on the town's Board of Selectmen that they had lost to Democrats two years ago in a shocker.

Easton voters were quite affirmative that they would like their town to remain in the "rural" category. Bridgeport, Fairfield and Trumbull are close enough for shopping, thank you.

What was truly encouraging in all of these above election scenarios is that the land use issue brought people to the polls.

The turnout in Orange was 62.1 percent (one of the highest in the state); in Derby, 59.7 percent; in Easton, 57.5 percent; in Shelton, 52 percent, and in West Haven, 46.2 percent. Those turnouts were all above the state average.

Sure, local election results hinge on many factors and that includes tax rates and quality of schools. But a growing factor for the future in this Greater Bridgeport region is land use.

Stephen J. Winters is editorial page editor of the Connecticut Post. You can reach him at 330-6203 or by e-mail at swinters@ctpost.com