Klarides, Hynes Debate: Should Town Governments be Regionalized?

The question, from moderator Jean Rabinow:

"Right now, most land use decisions are made by the individual cities and towns. Should the existing regional planning organizations in Connecticut be given increased powers to direct growth within their boundaries? Should they have taxing authorities or other increased powers?"

Excerpts from the how the candidates answered:

Klarides: "I'm a big proponent of local control. I have trouble telling towns what they should or shouldn't do in the first place, let alone adding another layer of authority to tell the towns what they can and can't do. I believe that Orange knows what's best for Orange, Woodbridge knows what's best for Woodbridge, and Derby knows what's best for Derby, and you can extrapolate that throughout the whole state."

Hynes: "[I] think there's an important role for regionalization in our state. After all, people from orange and Woodbridge participate in the regional school district called Amity. Our probate courts have been regionalized. I think there's some advantages to that, and there are places where decisions in terms of, say, siting of cell phone towers or decisions about how roads get put together, end up affecting the neighboring communities. So we need to find ways of getting the communities to work together more through regionalization."