Police Commission Endorses Traffic Aspects Of Borough Office Building

By Andrew Gorosko

Although they expressed concerns about the adverse traffic effects of adding a new office building to the congested Church Hill Road, Police Commission members this week endorsed a developer’s proposal to construct a 6,440-square-foot structure there.

Police Commission members, serving as the local traffic authority, endorsed developer Raffie Aryeh’s proposal to construct a two-story office building on land near the corner of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard.

The property has a street address of 1 The Boulevard, but vehicle access would be provided via an existing commercial driveway at 33 Church Hill Road, which is now used by Connecticut Prudential Realty. The site would have about 50 parking spaces for use by those in both buildings.

Mr Aryeh represents Serell, LLP, in the application which is pending before the Borough Zoning Commission. Borough zoners sought the Police Commission’s comments on the traffic aspects of the project. A Borough Zoning Commission public hearing on the application is slated to resume on September 13.

James Bubaris of Bubaris Traffic Associates of Cheshire attended the September 5 Police Commission session to describe the traffic implications of the office building project.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat questioned various aspects of the traffic report prepared by Bubaris. Ms Mattegat noted that the driveway that would serve the new building would be adjacent to the driveway for Hawley School at 29 Church Hill Road. The site also is near a shopping center, she said.

Ms Mattegat told Mr Bubaris that a new office building would generate more traffic in an already heavily traveled area and would worsen existing travel problems.

Adding such traffic to the Church Hill Road area poses issues, said commission member Richard Simon.

Mr Bubaris said the developer’s initial version of the project proposed a driveway for the new office building extending from The Boulevard. Although the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) did not object to such a driveway, the Borough Zoning Commission did not want a driveway there, so the plans were redrawn to have the driveway, which currently serves the 3,500-square-foot office building at 33 Church Hill Road, also serve the proposed new 6,440-square-foot office building, the traffic engineer explained.

Mr Bubaris stressed that the presence of a new office building would not change the traffic “levels of service” in the area. “Levels of service” is a measure used by traffic engineers to approximately describe the ease of traffic flow in a given area.

Mr Simon questioned the content of the Bubaris traffic report.

Mr Bubaris said the presence of a new office building would generate an estimated 32 additional vehicle trips in the area during the morning peak traffic hour and also during the evening peak traffic hour. He said such a traffic increase is relatively minor.

Mr Bubaris told commission members that he has been a traffic engineer for 38 years and has never been challenged as aggressively on a minor project as the Police Commission had challenged him.

He predicted that eventually the difficult intersection of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard would require a traffic signal to regulate traffic flow. A commercial driveway lies across Church Hill Road from The Boulevard.

Mr Simon again expressed doubts about the traffic aspects of the office building proposal. “Our concern is traffic,” he said.

Mr Bubaris stressed that property owners have rights to develop their properties. “There is no adverse [traffic] impact, “ he said.

Police Commission member Duane Giannini said that after a new office building is occupied with workers, the traffic generated by the building would undergo a “natural leveling.”

Police Commission members then agreed to endorse the traffic aspects of the office building construction proposal. Members also agreed that that they would review traffic conditions in that area one year from now.