The Legislative Council approved the Do Not Block The Box ordinance at its June 7 meeting.

The ordinance will go into effect two weeks after it was noticed in The Newtown Bee on June 23, meaning it will be in effect on July 7.

Do Not Block The Box is an ordinance designed to create open zones designated by painting line patterns to warn drivers against blocking specific areas of intersections. The ordinance would permit installing the painted warning grids as well as posting signs notifying operators where their vehicles can and cannot be when stopped.

The designated intersections are the intersections of Country Club Road and Route 25, Walnut Tree Hill and Church Hill Road, Elm Drive and Sugar Street (State Route 302), Pole Bridge Road and Route 34, and at Berkshire Road (Route 34) and the Newtown High School driveway.

At a May 3 council meeting, Knapp noted that the signage and striping were mainly meant to be the deterrent and people were observing it.

“It’s not a money maker by any stretch of the imagination,” said Knapp. “I think it’s something that’s more of an awareness thing.”

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said a painted area at the entrance of the old police department headquarters was being observed and “worked well without intervention” when that building was the police department.

According to the minutes of the January 30 Ordinance Subcommittee meeting, Police Commissioner Neil Chaudhary reported that many out-of-town residents travel through these intersections, and while there are proposed fines for offenses, the “real value of the ordinance” is the ability to post signs and paint lines where a town road and a state road intersect.

That effort must be backed by town ordinance before it can be approved by the state Department of Transportation.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.