In response to complaints about the hazards posed by motorists who park along Oakview Road, the Police Commission on October 6 approved having police post No Parking signs along that 3,000-foot-long north-south street, which lies west of the Newtown High School grounds.

The narrow, curving, hilly Oakview Road links Wasserman Way to Berkshire Road. Oakview Road often is used by motorists as a cut-through or shortcut to avoid traffic congestion near Exit 11 of Interstate 84 and near the intersection of Wasserman Way and Berkshire Road.

At a heavily attended September session, Police Commission members, serving as the local traffic authority, rejected a request from Newtown High School officials to allow some school staff members to have vehicular access to the school in the mornings via a gated emergency accessway which extends to the school grounds from Oakview Road.

Police Commission members decided that adding more traffic to Oakview Road would increase the likelihood of motor vehicle accidents there. The road has poor sight lines for motorists.

At the September session, one Oakview Road resident told Police Commission members that although the town has posted No Parking signs along the road, youths remove those signs after they are posted.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe told commission members on October 6 that he could find no record of the commission having authorized No Parking zones along the street.

Commission member Joel Faxon said that parking should be formally prohibited along the road.

Commission members then approved a motion requiring the posting of No Parking signs along the street.

The residential street, which has a 20-mph speed limit, has about one dozen houses. Also, Regency at Newtown, a 54-unit age-restricted condominium complex, is on the northern section of Oakview Road.

Oakview Road attracts residents who attend youth soccer games at Oakview Field, a town athletic field located at the intersection of Oakview Road and Wasserman Way. Also, there is small parking lot near the emergency accessway gate to the high school. That gate is located near some high school sports fields.

Police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde, who heads the police traffic unit, said he expects that a series of No Parking signs will be posted along Oakview Road within a month.

Until about 15 years ago, Oakview Road was a dirt road. After sanitary sewers were installed beneath that roadway in order to extend sanitary sewer service to the high school, the town paved Oakview Road.

The paved surface allowed vehicles to travel faster on the geometrically deficient roadway.