Police Commission Cuts

Sandy Hook Center Parking Space

By Andrew Gorosko

After lengthy review of traffic safety concerns in Sandy Hook Center, Police Commission members are recommending that one parallel parking space be eliminated from in front of a business along eastbound Church Hill Road there.

At a February 6 session, Police Commission members endorsed eliminating the easternmost parking space in front of 100 Church Hill Road, a building which holds a bar and restaurant.

The Police Commission, which is the local traffic authority, is making that recommendation to the state Department of Transportation (DOT), Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week. The DOT has jurisdiction over Church Hill Road because it is a state road.

Police Commission members endorsed eliminating that parking space to prevent the blockage of westward sight lines for motorists who are exiting the driveway for a parking lot, which lies behind 100 and 102 Church Hill Road.

Commission members agreed to review the traffic safety situation in that area in one year to determine whether any other changes would need to be made.

The Police Commission has been reviewing traffic safety in Sandy Hook Center since last summer in view of physical changes that have been made there as part of the Sandy Hook Center Streetscape Project.

That civic beautification project added a masonry pedestrian plaza in front of 102 Church Hill Road, alongside eastbound Church Hill Road. The area where the plaza now stands formerly held nine perpendicular parking spaces for customers of the several businesses which occupy 102 Church Hill Road. Those businesses include a package store, a hair salon, and a delicatessen.

After the pedestrian plaza was constructed, business customers then started using the area alongside the newly created curbline there as four parallel parking spaces.

Last September, however, the Police Commission had recommended to the DOT that the state prohibit parallel parking there, as well as the easternmost space in front of 100 Church Hill Road.

At that time, commission members said that such parallel parking could pose traffic conflicts in that area where eastbound motorists are driving near the curbline in seeking to make a right turn on a red traffic signal from Church Hill Road onto Washington Avenue.

At that time, Police Commission members said that adequate parking exists in a rear parking lot lying behind 100 and 102 Church Hill Road.

In October, however, the owners of businesses at 102 Church Hill Road told Police Commission members that the four parallel parking spaces are important for the convenience of their customers.

Police Commission members have intermittently discussed the parking issue since October.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal attended the Police Commission session on February 6 to urge that the panel endorse allowing parallel parking for four vehicles in front of 102 Church Hill Road, according to commission records.

Mr Rosenthal told commission members that the town and the owners of the commercial building at 102 Church Hill Road had agreed that if the nine perpendicular parking spaces were eliminated to make way for the pedestrian plaza, then four parallel parking spaces would be allowed along the new curbline.