P&Z Accepts Plan On Driveway Placements

 By Andrew Gorosko

Following discussion at a January 21 session, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have accepted a planning study that provides a range of traffic recommendations on how to achieve better public safety, traffic flow, and ease of access to businesses and homes in terms of driveways’ intersections with major local roads.

Representatives of Fitzgerald and Halliday, Inc, of Hartford, a planning consulting firm, presented the Curb Cut and Access Management Plan to P&Z members. The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) was the town’s agent for the planning project. HVCEO is the regional transportation planning agency.

The plan focuses on the placement of driveways and how those driveways’ locations affect the flow of traffic on adjacent roads. The plan makes recommendations on the logical and safe places for future driveways, as well advises on how existing problematic driveway locations could be improved.

When future development or redevelopment occurs, the town would refer to an advisory map for aid in planning the driveway access to properties.

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

Carol Gould, a land use planner with the consulting firm, told P&Z members that having such an access management plan would provide the town with several advantages.

The plan seeks to improve overall traffic safety by reducing the number of “turning conflicts” that occur when motorists make turns while driving. By reducing the number of potential vehicle turning conflicts, the carrying capacity of roadways is consequently increased.

Also, providing good vehicle access points to properties encourages economic development. Well-planned vehicle access also makes conditions safer for pedestrians.

The plan includes a list of recommendations on how both the town’s and the borough’s zoning regulations could be revised with the goal of improved vehicle access patterns, Ms Gould said.

The plan provides some access management recommendations in light of the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) plans to simplify Interstate 84’s on-ramps and off-ramps at the Exit 10 interchange. The plan also considers the DOT’s plans to make various physical changes to improve traffic flow on the section of Church Hill Road just west of the Exit 10 interchange. Those road changes would include shifting the southern end of Edmond Road westward to create a four-way signalized intersection of Edmond Road, Church Hill Road, and Commerce Road.  

Samuel Eisenbeiser, a planner with the consulting firm, said that the Curb Cut and Access Management Plan would be posted on the town’s website to allow the public to review it.

Mr Eisenbeiser explained that the recommendations listed in the plan are on the “conceptual level,” providing planning concepts for vehicular access. The plan does not include “engineering level” designs for such improvements, he added.

Ms Gould stressed that the plan amounts to an “advisory document” that would serve as a set of recommendations that the P&Z could use when considering the traffic access aspects of development proposals.

Mr Eisenbeiser explained that the planning document and its related mapping amounts to a long-term plan on vehicle access. The document which it replaces was published in 1993.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland noted that the plan proposes that many existing driveways be closed to traffic to improve overall traffic conditions.

Developer/builder Michael Burton, who owns real estate in Sandy Hook Center, said that while the access management plan is a good planning tool, it unfortunately does not address vehicle access issues on streets including Glen Road and Riverside Road in Sandy Hook Center.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said the plan will provide a good basis of reference for the P&Z when considering vehicle access issues posed by future development applications. “I think we’ll make very good use of this. I really do. This is a very nice planning tool,” she said.

Ms Gould noted that certain wording has been added to the plan that explains the Police Commission’s role in reviewing vehicle access issues posed by development proposals.

The Police Commission is the local traffic authority. The P&Z typically refers certain development applications to the Police Commission for review and comment on those proposals’ traffic aspects before the P&Z acts on those applications.

Earlier this month, the Police Commission endorsed the access management plan, provided that the P&Z included wording in the plan listing the Police Commission’s role in reviewing vehicle access issues.

George Benson, town director of planning and land use, said that town land use officials would be conferring with borough officials on the access management plan.