Final Components Of Sandy Hook Streetscape Project Under Construction

By Andrew Gorosko

Work this week progressed on the final components of the Sandy Hook Streetscape project in Sandy Hook Center, including the construction of a pedestrian plaza in front of a commercial building on the north side of Church Hill Road.

That building, which is owned by Pootatuck Properties, contains Sandy Hook Wine and Liquor at 102 Church Hill Road, plus several other businesses. Workmen constructed several handsome fieldstone walls there that will accent the pedestrian plaza.

Work was also underway on a new sidewalk directly across the street in front a commercial building at 117 Church Hill Road, which houses Subway of Sandy Hook.

Last September, workers started building the streetscape improvements along the section of Church Hill Road lying between the Pootatuck River and Dayton Street. LRM, Inc, is constructing the streetscape project.

A final component of the project will involve extending electric service to a series of decorative antique-style lightposts positioned along Church Hill Road.

With the construction of the pedestrian plaza in front of 102 Church Hill Road, the nine spaces for perpendicular parking that were located there will be replaced by four parallel parking spaces situated along the road’s realigned curbline.

The streetscape project includes textured concrete sidewalks and ornamental trees. The five-foot-wide sidewalks are accented by gray granite curbing.

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.