Selectmen Pass Traffic Calming

Ordinance Proposal To Council

By John Voket

After a thorough review by a committee comprised of residents, police commissioners, and other town officials, the Board of Selectmen quickly passed language of a proposed town-wide “traffic calming” ordinance to the Legislative Council for consideration. It is typical practice for the council to accept such a proposal and immediately delegate it to its ordinance subcommittee for further review.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said the local committee that gathered information leading to the new ordinance proposal incorporated information from a recent Queen Street traffic study, as well as citizen input from Bruce Walczak and Robert Geckle who reside in the area, and John Gilchrist who expressed concerns about speeding traffic on Hopewell Road.

“They worked for eight or nine months on this,” Mr Rosenthal said. “They feel that to get into traffic calming issues…the first step would be drafting an ordinance on how it should be done.”

The first selectman said traffic calming devices that have been successfully employed in other communities include speed humps, which are wider and less pitched than parking lot speed bumps, as well as “neck-downs,” which he described as portions of the road where curbing closes the travel lane.

Contacted after the meeting, Public Works director Fred Hurley said necking-down a roadway involves a variety of curbing configurations which can incorporate barriers like trees and plantings, and can create parallel parking areas for vehicles.

“The object is to actually make the roadway look more visually congested, thereby causing vehicles to slow down to a more reasonable rate of speed,” Mr Hurley said.

While Mr Rosenthal seemed willing to table action on the proposal until a study committee representative could make a presentation, Selectman William Brimmer, Jr said he was willing to vote on the measure that night.

“Since the ordinance would actually be put together and approved by the council, and it doesn’t look like anything here is controversial at all, it looks ok to me,” Mr Brimmer said, before making a motion to move the matter to the council.

Mr Brimmer added that the council’s ordinance review committee can “get backlogged,” which delays action on proposals, and said he felt better moving this item along in the process immediately.

The selectmen’s version of the ordinance language stipulates that the Newtown Police Department and Police Commission would be designated “the implementing authority for the organization and operation of a traffic calming program.”

Ordinance Language

Traffic calming, according to the proposal, could involve reducing vehicular speed, enhancing pedestrian safety and reducing traffic diversion in residential neighborhoods. The document further states that any implementation of such devices would be done in compliance with standards and practices of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (AASHTO), and the state Department of Transportation.

“All traffic calming measures shall be designed under the supervision of the director of Public Works or his designee,” who must be a state licensed engineer, the proposal states. The program guidelines will be formulated incorporating public participation, including the process by which a resident or residents can request traffic calming services.

Both a public hearing and notices of construction would be presented on pending projects, and upon installation of traffic calming devices, their effectiveness or lack of effectiveness would be monitored for a period of at least one year. If for whatever reason the program created a hazardous situation or condition, the issue would be “immediately corrected.”

Pending the final approval of the ordinance, as submitted, the Public Works director would incorporate traffic calming improvements and the cost for implementation as part of the department’s annual budget request. As in many other municipal projects, the traffic calming proposals would be ranked in terms of cost and priority, and upon approval the local public works department would be charged with completing the installations.

Long-Term Planning

In other matters, the selectmen had planned to host Cheshire Town Manager, Michael Milone, who was expected to discuss aspects of his town’s long-range planning committee. An ongoing Monday commitment, however, would prevent the Cheshire official from appearing before Newtown selectmen until early next year.

The planned discussion would have been the next step in the selectmen’s plan to consider forming a long-range planning committee. This panel of between 12 and 20 members, would be a non-policymaking body that could examine proposed projects and the long-term needs of the community and its residences extending far beyond Newtown’s five-year Capital Improvement Plan.

Mr Rosenthal told his fellow selectmen he was getting a lot of feedback from the council and others about “getting something going,” regarding the long-term planning initiative. But Selectman Brimmer and Joseph Bojnowski both felt it was important to hear from the Cheshire official.

It was determined that the town manager would be able to attend a Wednesday special meeting in December, and Mr Brimmer suggested that if such a meeting could be scheduled, that members of the council be invited in the spirit of further expediting the initiative.

It was agreed that a special meeting would be called as soon as Mr Milone could confirm an appearance.