Following lengthy discussion at a September 1 session, Police Commission members, serving as the local traffic authority, rejected a request from Newtown High School officials to allow limited staff access to the school in the morning via a gated emergency accessway extending from Oakview Road.

NHS Principal Lorrie Rodrigue and NHS Director of Security Mark Pompano presented the proposal to Police Commission members at a heavily attended meeting. Many of those in the audience were Oakview Road area residents who expressed strong opposition to allowing limited school staff access via the emergency service road.

Although the high school campus at 12 Berkshire Road covers more than 37 acres, unlike other high schools in the area, the campus has only one access point for vehicles, which extends from the west side of Berkshire Road.

The campus also has a gated accessway extending from Oakview Road, but it is designed to provide emergency vehicles with alternate way to enter and exit the campus, if needed.

Dr Rodrigue asked Police Commission members to allow a school staff member to stand at the gate off Oakview Road and allow 50 to 60 school staff members to enter the campus there from 6:45 to 7:15 am on school days. Those staff members would then park in the area behind the school, she said.

Roads leading to the high school are especially busy in the morning as 1,686 students and 250 employees arrive at school. More than 400 students park their vehicles at the school. Forty-three buses transport students there.

Having a secondary vehicle access for some staff members would help ease the traffic congestion, Dr Rodrigue said.

Commission Response

Police Commission member Brian Budd said of the access proposal, “I think it has the potential to create more negative issues than positive issues… I just see a lot of negatives.”

Mr Budd said he expects that access problems at the high school stem from “poor design” at the site, which provides only one entry/exit point for the public.

Member Andrew Sachs agreed with Mr Budd’s observations.

Member Virgil Procaccini, Jr, described Oakview Road as a narrow, curvy road. Adding more traffic to Oakview Road would result in traffic accidents, he said.

Unless Oakview Road is physically improved, adding more traffic to street would result in major problems, there, he said.

Until about 15 years ago, the 3,000-foot-long Oakview Road was a dirt road. After sanitary sewers were installed beneath that road to extend sanitary sewer service to the high school, Oakview Road was paved with asphalt.

The paved surface, however, allowed vehicles to travel faster on the former dirt road, which was still geometrically deficient. Oakview Road functions as a shortcut for motorists traveling from Wasserman Way to Berkshire Road.

After sanitary sewers became available on Oakview Road, Toll Brothers built Regency at Newtown there. The 54-unit age-restricted condominium complex is at 21 Oakview Road, northwest of the gated emergency accessway.

When the Planning and Zoning Commission approved Regency in February 2006, in light of Oakview Road’s physical deficiencies, it required that motorists be prohibited from making right turns onto Oakview Road when exiting Regency.

Police Commission Chairman Paul Mangiafico asked why a secondary accessway to the high school grounds should be designated for school staff instead of a broader range of people who travel to the school.

Mr Mangiafico said he had driven on Oakview Road and found that street to be physically lacking, posing problems in terms of its narrowness, curves, and poor sight lines. Adding traffic to Oakview Road is not a solution, he said.

Dr Rodrigue said that under the access proposal, staffers would only enter the school campus in the morning at Oakview Road. They would depart in the afternoon via the school’s main entry/exit point, at Berkshire Road, she said.

Placing additional traffic on Oakview Road would result in problems, Mr Sachs said.

“You have not shown me a compelling argument” regarding providing morning access for school staffers via Oakview Road, Mr Mangiafico said.

The plan would serve to decrease general traffic congestion near the school in the mornings, Dr Rodrigue responded.

“I’m really not sold on your proposal,” Mr Mangiafico said.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe noted that the state Department of Transportation (DOT) is redesigning some roadways near Exit 11 of Interstate 84 to improve traffic flow in that general area, which is near the high school.

First Selectman Pat Llodra noted that a prime component of the DOT’s improvement project will be the construction of an additional on-ramp to I-84 extending from westbound Route 34 and leading to the Exit 11 interchange. The presence of that on-ramp would alleviate traffic congestion at the intersection of Berkshire Road and Wasserman Way, she said.

Public Comment

During the public comment section of the Police Commission meeting, Mark Hill of 23 Oakview Road said that Oakview Road is a difficult road for travel.

“This [proposal] just doesn’t work logistically,” he said.

“This is a bad idea. It puts the town at risk. It’s just not fair to the neighbors,” he said.

 A man who lives at Regency at Newtown termed the proposal “a recipe for disaster,” noting that Oakview Road is narrow. He said adding more traffic to Oakview Road would lead to auto accidents.

Sharon Ivan of 5 Oakview Road said the road is narrow and there is a problem with speeding motorists. The hazardous road has no sidewalk, she added. “It’s a difficult street,” she said.

Robert Emmerthal of 7 Oakview Road said that although the town posts “no parking” signs at Oakview Road, youths remove those signs.

Police Commission members then voted on the request to use the Oakview Road for limited school staff access to the high school, rejecting the proposal.