Key Sandy Hook Streetscape Component To Be Built In Spring

By Andrew Gorosko

A key section of the town’s Sandy Hook Streetscape Project is planned for construction in the spring, when workers are expected to build a pedestrian plaza in front of a commercial building on Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center. That building, which is owned by Pootatuck Properties, contains Sandy Hook Wine and Liquor at 102 Church Hill Road, plus several other businesses.

Last September, workers started constructing the streetscape improvements along the section of Church Hill Road lying between the Pootatuck River and Dayton Street. But at the last moment, town negotiations for a required set of property easements had fallen through, explained Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker.

Those easements will legally allow the town to build the pedestrian plaza in front of the commercial building, as well as extend electric service to a series of decorative antique-style light posts positioned along Church Hill Road, Ms Stocker said.

With the construction of the pedestrian plaza and related sidewalks, the nine existing spaces for perpendicular parking in front of the commercial building will be replaced by four parallel parking spaces situated along the road’s realigned curbline, Ms Stocker said.

When the streetscape project was put out to bid last year, the pedestrian plaza component of the overall work was estimated to cost $42,400 to construct. The delay in constructing that feature of the project is expected to increase in cost, Ms Stocker said. The work is expected to take two to four weeks to complete.

Also, certain sidewalk improvements in front of the Subway sandwich shop on Church Hill Road will be made in the spring, Ms Stocker said. Construction crews encountered difficulties in building a new sidewalk there last fall, she said.

The streetscape project includes textured concrete sidewalks, ornamental trees, and antique-style lampposts. The five-foot-wide sidewalks are accented by gray granite curbing. LRM, Inc, did the work.

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 in the planning stages 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 are planned for the sections of Glen Road, Riverside Road, and Washington Avenue, which extend outward from the four-way intersection of those streets.

The overall streetscape project is expected to cost $1.25 million, which will be jointly covered by federal, state, and town funds. The federal share for the work would be $620,000; the state will cover $475,000 of the costs; and the town will assume the remaining $155,000.