Selectmen Learn Sandy Hook Merchants

Want Streetscape Completed

By John Voket

Standing before selectmen at their mid-July meeting, Sandy Hook resident and merchant Raymond Ruzek appealed to the board to find a way to complete the final phase of a streetscape beautification project that has foundered in recent months due to lack of funds. Accusing town officials of “obsessing over Fairfield Hills,” Mr Ruzek said it was time to again turn attention to the neighboring business district, which is already benefiting from hundreds of thousands of dollars in improvements.

During his brief presentation to selectmen, Mr Ruzek contended that completing the planned project would actually compliment development potential at the adjacent former hospital campus. Reading from a prepared statement, the local businessman told selectmen that completing the streetscape would be good for Fairfield Hills.

“A beautiful, historic Sandy Hook Center, close to Fairfield Hills, will help attract quality, private tenants and capital to Fairfield Hills and other commercial sections of town,” he said.

Mr Ruzek pointed out that long before the first streetscape improvement phase broke ground, local merchants in the area were already investing in improvements on their own properties. The completed phase of the Sandy Hook streetscape project includes textured concrete sidewalks and ornamental trees. The five-foot-wide sidewalks are accented by gray granite curbing.

The streetscape project is intended to beautify the area, with the goal of attracting more visitors to economically stimulate the compact business district. The improvement project has been planned since mid-2001. Landscape architect Jane Didona of Didona Associates of Danbury oversaw the project’s design.

Beyond the Church Hill Road beautification work, future improvements were planned for the sections of Glen Road, Riverside Road, and Washington Avenue that extend outward from the four-way intersection of those streets.

The overall streetscape project was expected to cost $1.25 million, and jointly underwritten by federal, state, and town funds. The federal share for the work was expected to total $620,000; the state was expected cover $475,000 of the costs; and the town was to assume the remaining $155,000.

“We did the piece on Church Hill Road,” Mr Ruzek said. “But grant money dried up so the town tabled it instead of putting up town money for it.”

Mr Ruzek contended that property owners have contributed to public beautification initiatives in the area, and that it is time for the town to step up and find a way to complete additional components of the project to help support merchants, as well as to follow through on aspects of the town’s plan of development.

“The plan of development states that ‘the appearance of businesses visible from heavily traveled roads contributes to the daily perception of the community’s character,’ and Sandy Hook Center is one of the most heavily traveled intersections in town,” Mr Ruzek said.

The local merchant said completing the improvements sooner than later would also help the town capitalize on historic and scenic aspects of the area. He cited Rochambeau’s Revolutionary War encampment, the state forest with its many hiking trails, and the development of a rubber vulcanization process refined by Charles Goodrich in the area, as examples of Sandy Hook’s historic significance.

He said it was a mistake for the town to become so preoccupied with Fairfield Hills that it has forgotten “other things that need to happen in this town.” And Mr Ruzek pointed out that plans for all phases of the streetscape project have been completed, “but are in a drawer somewhere collecting dust.”

While the town’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) contains a $750,000 allocation proposal for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Mr Ruzek contended that the town could get much more benefit from those dollars if the project is continued sooner.

Selectman Paul Mangiafico said he agreed that “Fairfield Hills seems like a subject that never goes away.”

“This town is over 60 square miles and there is a lot of stuff besides Fairfield Hills,” Mr Mangiafico said. “This is something we should continue with.”

Selectman Herb Rosenthal said the town put $134,000 in to the Phase 1 segment of the project, but the regional council of elected officials suffered a cutback in funds at the federal level and the only streetscape project to subsequently receive funding was in Brookfield.

“I support the idea of doing it,” Mr Rosenthal said. “We are going to be doing the capital improvement program. But the $750,000 in the CIP was a grant, but we never got any of it.”

Mr Mangiafico pointed out that Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said in a memo that if the streetscape was going to move forward, “we would have to be creative.”

“Who is ‘we,’ and what does she mean by ‘being creative’?” Mr Mangiafico asked. He then recommended First Selectman Joe Borst meet with Ms Stocker as soon as possible to determine what the options are.

“It’s either we get it from somebody else or we get it from taxpayers here,” Mr Mangiafico said.