Former Grand Union—

Police Commission Endorses Shopping Center Traffic Plans

By Andrew Gorosko

Police Commission members have endorsed the traffic aspects of a proposed renovation/expansion of Eton Center, a largely vacant shopping plaza at the 5 Queen Street site, which formerly held the Grand Union supermarket.

Commission members endorsed the project on December 4, after reviewing additional traffic information provided by the applicant. The commission, which is the local traffic authority, makes recommendations to local land use agencies on development proposals. The commission has been reviewing the project for the past several months.

The shopping center project will now be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Borough Zoning Commission.

The developer’s representatives say that they do not know which businesses would be located in the refurbished 7.5-acre shopping center, which has access from Queen Street and from Church Hill Road.

Traffic engineer Michael Galante presented the traffic aspects of the project to Police Commission members. The applicant also has submitted a traffic study on the project to the State Traffic Commission for review because Church Hill Road is a state road.

Under the redevelopment proposal, the traffic signal located at the main entrance to Newtown Shopping Village at 6 Queen Street, would be upgraded, as necessary, to make that intersection a safer place for vehicular/pedestrian traffic, according to Mr Galante. The eastern leg of that intersection would be an “exit only” driveway from Eton Center.

Improvements there would include placing electronic signs on posts indicating when it is safe for pedestrians to walk across the intersection. The intersection receives heavy pedestrian traffic from the nearby Newtown Middle School.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat urged Mr Galante to discuss improvements to that traffic signal with representatives of Newtown Shopping Village.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that upgrading that traffic signal is important because police want pedestrians to cross Queen Street at that location.

Local officials have long eyed the redevelopment of Eton Center as a key component in the town’s central business district.

The Grand Union supermarket, which was the prime tenant at Eton Center, closed for business in March 2001. That decaying space has been vacant since the closure. A Brooks Pharmacy at the site closed for business in April 2006. A Wachovia Bank branch office remains in business within the west end of the red-brick building on the site.

The redevelopment proposal from David Brause Realty of New York City calls for the construction of a new 3,195-square-foot freestanding building near Church Hill Road, which would house a branch office of Wachovia Bank. The bank would have customer drive-through facilities.

Overall, the project would contain 51,284 square feet of enclosed space, including a grocery store, general retail space, and bank. The grocery store would occupy about 33,000 square feet of space. Parking would be provided for about 250 vehicles.