Sandy Hook Sidewalk Project Outlined

By Andrew Gorosko

An ad hoc panel which is planning public improvements for Sandy Hook Center has defined the scope of a sidewalk construction project intended to enhance pedestrian safety and to beautify the compact business district, with the goal of economically revitalizing the area.

More than 15 town officials, merchants, and residents met July 26 to develop basic plans for the “streetscape” improvement project, which largely would be funded with a federal grant, said Elizabeth Stocker, the town’s community development director.

As now proposed, new sidewalks would be constructed on the south side of Church Hill Road between the Sandy Hook Center traffic signal and Newtown United Methodist Church, and on the north side of Church Hill Road between the traffic signal and Dayton Street.

Also, new sidewalks would be built on the east side of Washington Avenue between the traffic signal and Crestwood Drive.

Committee members also propose building new sidewalks on Riverside Road between the traffic signal and Dickenson Drive, and constructing new sidewalks on Glen Road between the traffic signal and Dayton Street. It is unclear on which side of the street the sidewalks on Riverside Road and Glen Road would be built, Ms Stocker said. The location of those sidewalks would depend on the availability of rights-of-way and the amount of grading that is required for sidewalk construction, she said.

The sidewalks would be constructed of paving brick similar to the brick which was used in constructing a small plaza at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Washington Avenue, she said. Conventional concrete and architectural concrete which simulates stonework might also be used in sections of the project, depending upon costs, she said. Granite curbing is planned for the new sidewalks.

Also, the two painted crosswalks which now cross Church Hill Road and Glen Road near the Sandy Hook Center traffic signal would be replaced with stone-surfaced crosswalks to enhance the appearance of the area, she said. It also may be possible to install a stone-surfaced crosswalk across Church Hill Road at Dayton Street, she said.

Besides new sidewalks, improvements eyed for the area include better street lighting and landscaping. Sandy Hook Center has undergone gradual physical improvements during the past several years.

Ms Stocker said panel members also discussed the possibility of extending sidewalks along the east side of Washington Avenue to Interstate 84. A new 40-lot residential subdivision, known as Tilson Woods, is now under construction off Washington Avenue, adjacent to I-84.

Ms Stocker said the town eventually hopes to build a Church Hill Road sidewalk network linking the Main Street flagpole to Sandy Hook Center.

Design Services

The Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), the 10-town regional planning agency to which Newtown belongs, has agreed to provide some landscape architecture design services to the town to help it develop the plans which it requires to apply for federal funding for the Sandy Hook Center project, Ms Stocker said.

Ms Stocker estimates the Sandy Hook Center streetscape improvement project would cost “several hundred thousand dollars.” A federal grant would cover 80 percent of project costs, with the town assuming the remainder.

Federal officials require municipalities to provide detailed plans in their grant applications for improvement projects. Those plans provide information required to create sound cost estimates for improvement work.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal will seek HVCEO backing in Newtown’s bid for federal funds for the project, Ms Stocker said.

In the mid-1990s, the town used such federal money, provided under the US Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act grant program, to renovate the deteriorating Dayton Street bridge which links Glen Road to Dayton Street, just north of Sandy Hook Center. Although the antique bridge is closed to motor vehicles, it is used as a pedestrian walkway.

A Connecticut Light & Power Company official has informed the ad hoc panel that burying electric lines in Sandy Hook Center to improve the area’s appearance would cost approximately $600,000, Ms Stocker said.

Some panel members have expressed a desire to bury electric, telephone, and cable television lines to eliminate utility poles in Sandy Hook Center, which are considered eyesores. Panel members will explore the prospects of burying such utility lines, Ms Stocker said.

The next phase of the streetscape project will involve developing designs for the work, Ms Stocker said.

“We still have a lot more to do,” she said, adding that she will seek to have the town engineering department develop some sidewalk plans. “It’s a matter of doing the plans now,” she said.

 Also, panel members are considering developing a more practical vehicle parking arrangement for the commercial building on the south side of Church Hill Road that is nearest the Sandy Hook Center traffic signal, she said. Motorists currently park vehicles perpendicularly there, but that parking scheme poses safety problems.

 In 1995, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) created Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zoning. That zoning designation is intended to foster mixed-use development and emphasizes the human scale of Sandy Hook Center through various pedestrian amenities.