Panel Works Out The Details For Sandy Hook Beautification Project

By Andrew Gorosko

Members of the Sandy Hook Center Streetscape Committee are working out the details of a beautification project intended to improve the appearance of the compact business district and stimulate its economic growth.

At a September 28 session, committee members traded ideas on constructing sidewalks, installing streetlighting, and burying public utilities in seeking to fashion a commercial district that would serve as a magnet in attracting area residents to Sandy Hook Center shops, businesses, and eateries.

Architect Anthony Tartaglia presented some architectural illustrations, depicting how a physically improved business district might look with new sidewalks, antique-style streetlighting, and new landscaping.

Sandy Hook Center has undergone gradual physical improvements during the past several years.

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker told panel members she recently met with state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials to review the construction materials that would be used in the proposed beautification project.

“They [DOT] are really going to work with us on this,” Ms Stocker said, noting that DOT would allow granite curbing to be installed in Sandy Hook Center, although DOT would prefer asphalt curbing for cost and repair reasons. She added that DOT officials also endorsed creating a new crosswalk across Church Hill Road at its intersection with Dayton Street.

Ms Stocker stressed the need for the improvement project to include a “visual gateway” leading into Sandy Hook Center, beckoning visitors to spend time there.

The September 28 session was the third committee meeting held since June to discuss how Sandy Hook Center would be improved. The public works project would be largely funded with a federal grant.

 A key aspect of the project would be construction of new sidewalks on Church Hill Road, Glen Road, Washington Avenue, and Riverside Road. The sidewalks nearest the intersection of those four streets would be constructed of paving brick, similar to the brick now in place on the corner of Church Hill Road and Washington Avenue. Sidewalks farther away from the four-way intersection would be built of a material that has a similar appearance but which is less costly.

Ms Stocker said the town may soon need to approve funds needed to keep the Sandy Hook Center project moving forward, noting that the federal grant process requires some initial town spending for project planning. The town has not yet committed funds for such design work, she said.

The drive to improve Sandy Hook Center stems from the 1993 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, which calls for an improved center as part of a broader project to create a “greenway,” or open space corridor, along the Pootatuck River. The town plan calls for preserving the center as a historic, mixed-use hamlet featuring small retail and service businesses, with residences above street-level businesses.

Design Specifics

Mr Tartaglia suggested the use of certain streetlighting fixtures, brickwork, and landscaping elements along Church Hill Road to create a “microenvironment” that would provide pedestrians with an attractive setting. He urged panel members to be sensitive to the materials that are selected for the project, noting there is a broad range of architectural products available. Selecting materials appropriate for the setting is an important aspect of creating the desired village ambience, he said. Careful placement of design elements would establish visual rhythms to create a sense of space.

Owen Carney, the Republican candidate for first selectman, asked what would become of an existing brick-paved sidewalk in place at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Washington Avenue.

Ms Stocker responded that existing brickwork will remain in place.

Committee members reviewed drawings prepared by Sandy Hook Center landscape architect Erwin Potter depicting how a network of new and improved sidewalks could be created in the center.

Mike Porco, a local builder who owns several Sandy Hook Center properties, said it is important for committee members to decide on which materials will be used in the improvement project so that cost estimates can be made. Mr Porco said he would obtain sidewalk construction cost estimates.

“Once we get the actual [construction estimate] figures together, we’ll be in a pretty good position to make an application” for the federal grant, Ms Stocker said.

Beyond the need for physical improvements, the town should comprehensively address all the issues that contribute to making Sandy Hook Center a center of commerce and activity, Mr Porco said. He suggested that the boundaries of the town’s Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zone be expanded.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved SHDD zoning in 1995 to stimulate mixed-use development in Sandy Hook Center, featuring pedestrian amenities. A SHDD zone also exists at the Rocky Glen Mill on Glen Road.

Ms Stocker said P&Z will address the concept of expanding SHDD zoning in Sandy Hook Center as it revises the town plan during the coming year.

Mr Porco underscored the importance of burying some utility lines now hung on poles in Sandy Hook Center. Burying the electrical, telephone, and cable television lines now suspended from several poles along Church Hill Road would greatly improve the area’s appearance, he said.

Ms Stocker, however, pointed out that burying the utility lines now hung on four poles could cost approximately $600,000, according to the Connecticut Light and Power Company.

Mr Porco stressed the need for a coordinated planning approach so that the installation of underground utilities does not result in newly improved surfaces being torn up.

Design Services

The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), the 10-town regional planning agency to which Newtown belongs, will provide some landscape architecture design services to the town to help it develop the plans that are required to apply for federal funding for the Sandy Hook Center project.

Federal officials require municipalities to provide detailed plans in their grant applications for improvement projects. Those plans allow sound cost estimates to be formulated.

Ms Stocker has estimated the project would cost “several hundred thousand dollars.” A federal grant would cover 80 percent of project costs, with the town assuming the remainder.

In the mid-1990s, the town used such federal money, provided under the US Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act grant program, to renovate the deteriorating Dayton Street bridge, which links Glen Road to Dayton Street, just north of Sandy Hook Center. Although the antique bridge is closed to motor vehicles, it is used as a pedestrian walkway.

That federal grant program has provided funds for new sidewalks along Greenwood Avenue in Bethel; a renovated Danbury railroad station; a renovated Lover’s Leap Bridge in New Milford; and for improvements to the town hall area in New Fairfield. Redding plans to seek a federal grant to improve Main Street in Georgetown.

Based on the complexities of a streetscape improvement project, it could take several years to complete the work in Sandy Hook Center.

Ms Stocker has told members of the ad hoc group they need to lobby the town government to seek the town share of funding for the Sandy Hook Center streetscape improvement project.

The Borough Board of Burgesses and borough residents lobbied the Board of Selectmen and Legislative Council for the new sidewalks, which were recently built.