Date: Fri 26-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-planning-Hawleyville

Full Text:

Planning Study For Hawleyville Wins Qualified Support From P&Z Members

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Some Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have expressed general

support of a planning study that analyzes Hawleyville's potential for economic

development through the year 2017, but they have questioned certain aspects of

the study.

The study, which was prepared for the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected

Officials (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. HVCEO members endorsed the study in September, making it HVCEO

policy.

The planners have studied a 1,200-acre section of Hawleyville focusing on Exit

9 of Interstate 84. They 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

proposed land uses would be created by private developers on privately-owned

land. The study details the many road improvements that would be needed in

Hawleyville to facilitate its economic growth.

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

expected in Hawleyville due to market conditions and the limitations on the

land due to slopes, wetlands, soil types, and floodplains. In suggesting

several development scenarios for Hawleyville, the HVCEO is seeking to balance

the interests of developers, the town, and the region.

"We've been asked to consider adopting this (study) as an amendment to our

Plan of Development," P&Z Chairman Stephen Koch told P&Z members at a December

18 session.

"I thought the (study), in general, was very good," said P&Z member Michael

Osborne.

Mr Osborne pointed out, though, that motorists who enter I-84 at the Exit 9

westbound on-ramp are placed in a hazardous traffic situation because there is

little room for error on the short entry lane situated amid rapidly oncoming

westbound highway traffic. He termed the highway entry situation a

"nightmare."

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) should address correcting that

highway entry problem in the "near-term," not in the "mid-term" as stated in

the Hawleyville study, he stressed.

Hawleyville's development would mean that even more large trucks than now

would use that on-ramp, he said.

Implementation

In reviewing the many developmental and transportation improvements

recommended in the study, Mr Koch wondered "How's all this going to happen?"

P&Z member Lilla Dean, who served on the steering committee that oversaw the

study's production, said DOT wants to make the road improvements described in

the study within the coming 15 years. Ms Dean said she repeatedly asked the

professional planners who did the study how its recommendations would be

carried out.

Mr Koch said he doesn't understand how P&Z action on accepting the planning

study would affect its implementation one way or the other.

"I don't know how this is going to work either," said Ms Dean.

"In general, the plan makes sense," said P&Z member James Boylan.

Elizabeth Stocker, the P&Z's planning aide, explained that HVCEO has a

detailed set of graphics depicting the differences between current land uses

in Hawleyville and those proposed in the study. Also, the graphics depict

current zoning categories versus new zone categories which have been

recommended by the study to facilitate its recommended land uses.

"This is a very comprehensive report," Ms Stocker noted, adding that the study

explains in great detail the transportation improvements that would be needed

to support new development. HVCEO, which oversaw the study's production,

serves as the region's transportation planning agency. The Exit 9 study

concerns both the local and regional aspects of Hawleyville's growth.

If the P&Z accepts the study as part of the town's Plan of Development, it

would be a local affirmation of the study's content, Ms Stocker said.

Of the many development projects suggested in the study, Ms Stocker noted, "We

can't make it happen. These are all privately-owned properties."

The Hawleyville study establishes a hierarchy of planning policies to foster

the controlled growth of that largely undeveloped section of town, she said.

"Development is driven by the private sector," said P&Z member Heidi Winslow.

The study would create a public planning framework for future development, she

said, in effect, "setting a tone" for economic growth.

"We don't implement the plan directly as a commission," she said.

The P&Z would hold a public hearing on the Hawleyville planning study before

taking any action on including it in the town's Plan of Development, she said.

Ms Winslow suggested that the P&Z take the advice offered in the study and

rezone areas in Hawleyville with one-acre residential zoning to two-acre

residential zoning. She also suggested that the rest of the proposed rezoning

of land be carried out on a piecemeal basis, as the need for such rezoning

arises.

However, other P&Z members suggested that all the recommended rezoning be done

initially so that there is the potential for all the recommendations to

materialize, thus preventing future undesirable land uses in Hawleyville.

Ms Stocker said the study contains specific recommendations which the P&Z

should clearly endorse.

Mr Koch asked that the authors of the study make a presentation to P&Z members

at an upcoming session. Such a presentation would help P&Z members absorb the

study's content, he said.

HVCEO director Jonathan Chew and HVCEO planner David Hannon will present the

study with the aid of the planning consultants who worked on it, Ms Stocker

said.

If the Hawleyville planning study becomes an addendum to the Plan of

Development, the P&Z would then modify its zoning regulations and zoning map

to prepare for the possible development suggested by the study. A public

hearing would be required to make the zoning regulation changes.