From The Police Commission––

Proposed Borough Complex Wins Its First Approval

By Andrew Gorosko

In the first step for winning approval for a three-building, commercial complex proposed for the corner of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, a developer has sought and secured Police Commission endorsement of the traffic plan for the project.

Police Commission members, acting as the town’s traffic authority, posed questions and made traffic-flow recommendations January 6 to the project’s developer, Church Hill & Queen, LLC. The developer soon plans to submit plans for the project for Borough Zoning Commission review. The landowner of the development site is Pepper Partners Limited Partnership.

The project is one of the first construction proposals that the borough zoners will review under the terms of the borough’s Village District zoning regulations, a set of land use rules that are intended to have new commercial construction in the borough visually harmonize with existing architecture.

Church Hill & Queen, LLC, proposes constructing three commercial buildings on a 2.1-acre site comprised of 14-18 Church Hill Road. Village Texaco, a service station, formerly was located at 14 Church Hill Road. The White Birch Inn formerly stood at 18 Church Hill Road, which has frontages on Church Hill Road and Queen Street.

The development proposal calls for 17,146 square feet of commercial space. A one-story 6,338-square-foot building would be built at 14 Church Hill Road. At 18 Church Hill Road, two two-story buildings, each of each would contain 5,404 square feet of space, would flank the southwest corner of Church Hill Road and Queen Street. Each of the two two-story buildings would have only a partial second story, with 3,822 square feet of space situated on the first level, and 1,582 square feet of space built on the second level.

The ground-level spaces would be designated for general retail use. The second stories would be reserved for office space. Almost 14,000 square feet of space would be reserved for stores, with more than 3,000 square feet of space intended for office use. The buildings would be constructed in the Colonial style.

The project would be served by a common parking lot located behind the three buildings, which would have space for 86 vehicles. The developer proposes two entry-exit driveways for the complex. One driveway, containing one entry lane and two exit lanes, would be located on Church Hill Road, near the western boundary of 14 Church Hill Road. That driveway would lie to the southeast of Church Hill Road’s intersection with Wendover Road.

Another driveway, containing one entry lane and one exit lane, would be located on Queen Street, just north of the southernmost driveway for Newtown Shopping Village, which is at 6 Queen Street.

According to a traffic study prepared for the developer, traffic conditions in the area “will not be significantly affected by the additional traffic from the site.”

Barkan and Mess Associates, Inc, projects that the complex would generate 35 vehicle trips during the weekday morning peak traffic-flow hour, would generate 65 vehicle trips during the weekday afternoon peak traffic-flow hour, and would generate 70 vehicle trips during the Saturday midday peak traffic-flow hour.

“Our analysis indicated that acceptable levels of [traffic] service exist at the study intersections,” Barkan and Mess said of existing traffic flow near the development site.

Traffic Authority

Project applicant Peter Wiehl described his development proposal to Police Commission members on January 6. Traffic engineer David Sullivan explained traffic aspects of the project.

Mr Sullivan said the driveway that is proposed for Church Hill Road would be located as far west as possible from the existing traffic signal at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, to prevent traffic queuing problems from occurring on Church Hill Road. Similarly, the driveway proposed for Queen Street would be located as far south as possible from that traffic signal.

Mr Sullivan said that traffic generated by the proposed commercial complex would not damage the existing traffic “levels of service” in the area. The driveways proposed for the project would make for safe travel, he said.

Police Commission member Richard Simon cautioned that the new driveway proposed for Church Hill Road could set up a traffic-flow situation similar to that which exists near the Blue Colony Diner at 66 Church Hill Road, where there is a high incidence of motor vehicle accidents.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that while there are some similarities between the two locations, the driveway proposed for the new commercial complex likely would not pose the same problems as the diner’s driveway. The distance between the proposed new driveway and the Church Hill Road-Queen Street traffic signal would be much greater than the distance between the diner’s driveway and an adjacent traffic signal near Exit 10 of Interstate 84, according to the police chief.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat said there may be hazardous traffic conditions for motorists seeking to make a left turn from the proposed complex’s Church Hill Road driveway onto westbound Church Hill Road.

The developers would slightly widen Church Hill Road near that proposed driveway to facilitate through-traffic flow on the road.

Mr Wiehl said his firm has been unable to reach an agreement with the owner of Newtown Shopping Village to create a driveway that would link the two private properties.

Police Commission member Gerald Finnegan had suggested such a direct link to facilitate traffic flow in the area.

Chief Kehoe pointed out that considering the frequent heavy traffic on Queen Street, it would be difficult for motorists to exit the proposed Queen Street driveway and turn left onto Queen Street.

Mrs Mattegat pointed out that the future commercial uses of the adjacent Eton Center shopping plaza on Queen Street are unclear. That property at 5 Queen Street formerly held a Grand Union supermarket.

“We have no idea what’s going to happen with Eton Center. If [the owners] develop that, Queen Street could become a complete nightmare,” she said. Mr Simon said he expects that the Eton Center site eventually will be redeveloped.

Mr Sullivan said the proposed Church Hill & Queen, LLC, complex would comply with an existing pedestrian safety plan for the Queen Street corridor. Sidewalks would be built as part of the project.

In unanimously endorsing the traffic plans for the proposed complex, Police Commission members placed two conditions on their approval.

 The commission is requiring that left turns be prohibited from the proposed Queen Street driveway. Also, the panel is requiring the developer to approach the state Department of Transportation (DOT) and seek to have “pedestrian phasing” installed for the traffic signal at the intersection of Church Hill Road and Queen Street.

Under such an arrangement, when a pedestrian pushes the existing traffic control switches for the intersection, all signals at the intersection would turn red to halt all traffic and allow the pedestrian to safely cross the street. Currently, when the traffic control switches are activated by pedestrians, the traffic signals change, but all signals do not turn red.