Traffic Authority Role—

Police Commission Endorses Vehicle Access Management Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Following discussion, Police Commission members have endorsed a planning study that provides town and borough officials with recommendations on how to achieve better public safety, traffic flow, and ease of access to businesses and homes in terms of driveways intersecting with roads.

Police Commission members had been poised to act on the Newtown Access Management Study last month, but opted to postpone action on the matter until January 5 at the request of commission member Bruce Walczak who asked that the panel be briefed by planning officials about the implications of the study. The Police Commission is the local traffic authority.

The study, which started last spring, creates a planning framework for driveway access points, known as curb cuts, along major local roads. The road sections covered in the study are Mt Pleasant Road, Main Street, South Main Street, and Church Hill Road.

Fitzgerald and Halliday, Inc, of Hartford, a planning consulting firm, conducted the study for the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) on behalf of the town. HVCEO is the regional transportation planning agency.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to discuss and possibly act on the planning study at its January 21 session.

The study’s product will be a curb cut and access management plan. It will include recommendations for revisions to the town’s zoning regulations concerning driveway access. A curb cut plan will serve as a reference guide for future driveway creation and for future changes to existing problematic driveways.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean told Police Commission members January 5 that state grant money for the study was channeled to the town by the HVCEO. P&Z members consider such a study a worthwhile planning tool, she said.

In its planning capacity, the P&Z addresses traffic flow management, Ms Dean said. The agency can advise applicants for development projects on the use of curb cuts for vehicle access, she said.

 HVCEO Deputy Director David Hannon said that the new access management plan will update a 1993 plan on the subject.

Mr Hannon stressed that the access management plan is a “advisory document.”

Mr Walczak asked for clarification regarding the relative roles of the P&Z and the traffic authority concerning traffic access management.

George Benson, town director of planning and land use, said, “This is a plan…not a regulation.”

The P&Z refers various traffic flow proposals to the Police Commission, serving as the traffic authority, for review and comment, Mr Benson noted.

The information in the access management plan constitutes recommendations regarding development and redevelopment, he said. “I think it’s a great starting point,” he said, adding that the P&Z would use the plan as a “reference document.”

Carol Gould, a land use planner with Fitzgerald and Halliday, Inc, said the plan would provide the P&Z with more planning tools for its review of development proposals.

The curb cut aspect of the access management plan covers what would make for the best locations for new driveways, she said. The study also lists which existing driveways have access problems, she said.

Ms Dean noted that the membership of town commissions changes across time, adding that having such a study on hand would provide a “basis of reference” for addressing future vehicle access issues.

In light of Police Commission concerns, the P&Z could add wording to the plan describing the Police Commission’s role in using of the access management plan, Mr Benson said.

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has been informed of the plan and would be provided with copies of the final document, Mr Hannon said. The roads listed in the plan are state roads.

Police Commission Chairman Duane Giannini urged that the traffic authority’s traffic review role be specifically listed in the access management plan.

Police Commission members then endorsed the study, provided that such wording be added to the document.