Tim Dunphy
Without anyone running against him, Tim Dunphy was unanimously elected this week to fill the vacancy on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Board created by the resignation of James Coyle earlier this month.
“No one but Mr. Dunphy came forward for interviews, and I did not receive calls from any other interested resident,” said Town Planner Betty Brosius.
Six of the commission’s eight members were present at the meeting Wednesday night, a majority of the nine-member agency.
Mr. Dunphy, who ran for the position in November, was sworn into his post by Town Clerk Barbara Serfilippi on Jan. 24, which allows him to join the commission on a site walk special meeting on Feb. 2.
“I believe in public service and I think this is the ultimate responsibility in serving the community,” he said. “I want to help figure what’s best for this community and the residents of this town.”
His first regular meeting as commissioner will be Feb. 4, when the commission will host a third public hearing for a proposed mixed-use building on 40 Grove Street.
Mr. Dunphy, a Democrat, has served as a member of the town’s Architectural Advisory Board for the last three years and has experience as a lawyer specializing in environmental law, building and land use.
He held the position of town planner in Yorktown, N.Y. from 1992-1997 before attending law school at Fordhamn
“Serving as town planner really motivated me to go to law school,” he said. “I had gotten my master’s in real estate development from Columbia before taking the position, but when working there I realized how important understanding the law was to town planning.”
When asked about upcoming hot-button issues in Ridgefield, such as the approved gateway zone on Route 7, Mr. Dunphy said balancing the need for economic stability and the need to uphold the town’s character was essential.
While a majority of the focus has been spent on northern Route 7, near the Danbury border, Mr. Dunphy said an area he will be keeping a close eye on is Branchville, where he expects the commission to receive a variety of proposals in the upcoming months.
“The Branchville area needs to be addressed, there’s no doubt about it,” he added. “We’re talking about transportation, commercial viability, and, potentially, multi-family housing in that area — we have to pull all of that together, and it won’t be an easy task.”
He said another key topic will be traffic on Main Street and maintaining the character of the town’s village.
Mr. Dunphy will be resigning from the Architectural Advisory Board.
“We will be addressing a lot of the same issues so I won’t miss it too much,” he said. “When dealing with architecture, a lot of it has to do with the impact on the visual character of the town, specifically the village.”
Mr. Dunphy will serve until the next general election in November 2015. He will then be able to run as a candidate to fill the rest of the term which goes until November 2017.