Sandy Hook Center—

Local Firm Selected To Do Sandy Hook Beautification Project

By Andrew Gorosko

The town has chosen a local firm to do the construction work for a Sandy Hook Center beautification project, designed to improve the appearance of a section of Church Hill Road.

The beautification project’s goal is to attract visitors and boost retail and dining activity in the compact commercial district.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal and Finance Director Ben Spragg, acting as the town’s purchasing authority, this week approved hiring LRM, Inc, of 57 Church Hill Road, to do the Church Hill Road segment of the Sandy Hook Center Streetscape Project. The work will take place on the section of Church Hill Road lying between its bridge over the Pootatuck River and its intersection with Dayton Street.

The local officials this week awarded a bid in the amount of $317,646 to LRM, Inc. LRM was the only firm to submit a bid for the project. Town officials had expected that several firms would bid on the work. The bid opening took place on May 31.

Since May 31, town officials and the landscape architecture firm that designed the streetscape project have reviewed LRM’s bid submission to ensure that it meets the town’s specifications.

Before construction starts, LRM will need to post 100 percent performance bonding and provide a certificate of insurance for the project, plus provide other forms of security to the town.

Construction work is expected to start sometime in July and last 12 weeks. The project has been in the planning stages since mid-2001.

On the recommendation of Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker, the town has opted to omit an approximately $42,400 component of the streetscape project, which involves the construction of a pedestrian plaza in front of Sandy Hook Wine and Liquor at 102 Church Hill Road. LRM’s total bid submission to the town approached $360,000.

That proposed plaza will be built in an area that is partially privately owned. Pootatuck Properties, Inc is the private owner.

In a memorandum to Mr Rosenthal and Mr Spragg, Ms Stocker wrote, in part, “A permanent easement for the plaza should be in place before the [plaza construction]…is approved. I am confident that we will reach terms with the owners and will be able to move forward in a timely manner.”

On July 11, the town is scheduled to open competitive bids for decorative street lighting to be installed along Church Hill Road as part of the streetscape project.

The overall cost of the Church Hill Road project is approximately $430,000, including design work and administrative expenses.

Landscape architect Jane Didona of Didona Associates of Danbury oversaw the design aspects of the project.

Improvements

The streetscape project includes the installation of new sidewalks, curbing, decorative street lighting, and crosswalks, plus landscaping elements.

As part of the Church Hill Road improvements, some perpendicular parking spaces along the street will be eliminated. The project specifies paint striping to delineate parallel parking spaces along the street. Currently, parallel parking in the area is casual, without demarcation.

The streetscape project includes the installation of lightposts along the Church Hill Road curbline. The 11-foot-tall black lightposts will support lighting fixtures that would cast white light for decorative effect. Existing streetlights mounted on wooden utility poles in the area would remain in place.

New sidewalks will be constructed of concrete and would simulate red bricks, minimizing sidewalk maintenance. Sidewalks will be five feet wide.

Future Work

Beyond the Church Hill Road beautification work, future improvements will be made to 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.

The project does not include new traffic signals at that four-way intersection, nor a realignment of that intersection, which has poor sight lines for motorists and pedestrians.

Town officials had researched the cost of burying existing overhead utility lines as part of the beautification work, but deemed that work to be prohibitively expensive.

While new sidewalks will be extended along both sides of Church Hill Road as part of the public improvements, each of the three other streets will receive new sidewalks along only one side of the street.

A sidewalk will be extended along the eastern side of Washington Avenue from the four-way intersection to Washington Avenue’s intersection with Crestwood Drive.

A sidewalk will be extended along the southern side of Riverside Road from the four-way intersection to the driveway entrance to the Villa Restaurant and Pizza at 4 Riverside Road.

Also, a sidewalk will be extended along the western side of Glen Road from the four-way intersection to the antique bridge which links Glen Road to the turnaround circle at the end of Dayton Street. That bridge formerly carried vehicular traffic, but is now used as a pedestrian span.

The overall $1.25 million streetscape project 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.

During the past several years, private property owners have made a range of physical improvements at their Sandy Hook Center real estate. Both new development and redevelopment have occurred.

In 2002, the town extended United Water’s public water supply to Sandy Hook Center. In 1997, the town extended sanitary sewers there.

In 1995, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) created Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zoning to permit mixed land uses and to foster the creation of pedestrian amenities and adequate parking.