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Planning Study Identifies Hawleyville's Rich Potential

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Members of the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) have

endorsed a planning study that analyzes Hawleyville's potential for economic

development and natural resource conservation up to the year 2017.

The $110,000 study prepared for HVCEO by Barakos-Landino, Inc, of Hamden finds

there is an opportunity for significant economic development without adversely

affecting the basic character of Hawleyville or overburdening its natural or

built environment.

In the vote of endorsement September 19, only HVCEO member First Selectman

Bonnie Smith of Brookfield opposed the document. Ms Smith said good planning

studies are valuable but she does not like the specific development concepts

suggested by the study. Other HVCEO members are the mayors or first selectmen

of Newtown, Bethel, Bridgewater, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Redding,

Ridgefield and Sherman.

The planning study describes developmental scenarios for Hawleyville extending

toward the year 2017, creating a conceptual framework for growth in the

largely undeveloped section of town.

With the HVCEO's acceptance of the study, it becomes HVCEO policy.

Eventually, the HVCEO will seek to have the Newtown Planning and Zoning

Commission adopt the study as an addendum to the Newtown's 1993 Plan of

Development.

David Hannon, the HVCEO's regional planner, said the development potential of

Hawleyville has been discussed for many years. The area's current zoning would

allow millions of square feet of office and retail development to occur, he

said. Current zoning regulations would allow much more development in

Hawleyville than is recommended in the planning study.

Incremental growth in Hawleyville could result in "strip development" in which

many businesses are built directly facing roadways with many "curb cuts,"

meaning much turning traffic and traffic congestion.

The planning study is based on the types of development that are logically

expected due to market conditions and the limitations on the land due to

slopes, wetlands, soil types, and flood plains.

In Hawleyville, HVCEO is seeking to avoid the problems that resulted from the

intense development of sections of Route 7, also known as Federal Road,

according to Mr Hannon. Intense development along Federal Road has resulted in

infrastructure improvements being made there after development occurred, he

noted.

Planner Richard Harrall of Harrall-Michalowski Associates, Inc, a firm which

helped prepare the plan, said the section of Hawleyville studied ranges about

2.2 miles east-to-west and 1.7 miles north-to-south. The area focuses on Exit

9 of Interstate-84. Exit 9 doesn't have the extensive development like highway

Exits 1 through 8 and also Exits 15, 16 and 17, he noted.

The area studied in the plan includes the northwestern section of town

generally bounded by: Mt Pleasant Road on the south; the Bethel town line on

the southwest; the Brookfield town line on the northwest; Hawleyville Road and

the Maybrook railroad right-of-way on the north and northeast; and the Tunnel

Road area on the east.

The planners have studied a 1,200-acre section of Hawleyville and are

suggesting various development possibilities, including medical office space,

assisted-living facilities, age-restricted housing, single-family houses,

mixed retail uses, corporate offices, a hotel, conference center, open space

land, a village center and industrial uses.

The planners suggest development serving a regional area in the section of

Hawleyville south of Exit 9, Mr Harrall said. The major use of property north

of Exit 9 would be land conservation, he said.

A sanitary sewer line that now extends from Danbury to the Newtown-Bethel town

line would be extended into Hawleyville no farther northward than Barnabas

Road to keep land north of Exit 9 from being intensely developed, Mr Harrall

said.

Because there's much Hawleyville land available for development, keeping

development back away from streets is possible, he said. The development

envisioned for Hawleyville would blend in with existing development, he said.

To allow the type of development suggested by the study, the town's zoning

regulations will need some changes, he said.

Mixed Use

Planner Eve Barakos-Landino of Barakos-Landino, Inc, said having "mixed-use"

developments in Hawleyville would minimize the number of vehicle trips on

Hawleyville roads. Mixed-use development minimizes the need for curb cuts and

turning traffic, thus reducing traffic congestion.

The scenarios suggested by the planners are intended to serve as a guide to

good developmental choices, she said, adding that private developers would

approach the town with specific development plans for the area.

In formulating the study, the planners gave much thought to the presence of

existing development and how it can be visually buffered from future

development, Mr Hannon said. A goal of the study is minimizing the adverse

effects of future development, he said. As such, the study seeks to coordinate

infrastructure improvements with new development as new development occurs,

rather than after development has taken place, he said. Much of the new road

improvement work described in the plan would be paid for by private

developers, he said.

Mr Hannon stressed the study doesn't call for a major regional retailing

center.

Mr Hannon said that although many people would like to see no development in

Hawlewyville, the land is privately owned and its owners have the right to

develop it.

The land won't remain undeveloped unless someone buys it and leaves it

undeveloped, but that's very unlikely, he said.

In suggesting the several development scenarios for Hawleyville, the HVCEO

seeks to balance the interests of developers, the town, and the region, Mr

Hannon said.

Jonathan Chew, HVCEO executive director, said of the Exit 9 study, "It's the

biggest piece of work we've ever done in terms of comprehensive planning." Mr

Chew said HVCEO wants realtors and developers to support its "market-based"

plan for development near Exit 9.

If local development patterns continue as they have been progressing under the

town's current zoning regulations, more traffic would be generated in

Hawleyville than is described in the Exit 9 study, Mr Chew said.

Elizabeth Stocker, the town's community development director, said all

accessways to the several Hawleyville development sites would extend from

existing state-owned roads, not from town roads.

"I think this was a worthwhile project," she said, calling it "a very

comprehensive state-of-the art study."