New Haven Independent

With disappointment in his voice, DaRos said: “the DOT [StateDepartment of Transportation] is hamstrung. It is now up to our Congressional delegation to get it done. We will be going to work on that immediately. That is the next step.”

The bridge reconstruction is years overdue and without it commercial development of big box stores along the corridor leading to exit 53 off I-95 is effectively dead. The pricetag for the new bridge is upwards of $40 million.

The bridge is central to reconfiguring the so-called “Pretzel,” a winding maze of interchanges off Main Street near Kohl’s Department Store. The bridge is also vital to the town’s upcoming ten year planning and conservation plan.

This was the month to submit the bridge bids. But when Janice Plaziak, the town engineer, phoned DOT officials for a status report, she was told there was no federal funding. Indeed an official from DOT, who presented plans to the Board of Selectmen about the long-awaited reconfiguration of what is known as Snake Hill Road, was asked about the status of the Amtrak Bridge.

“It is an expensive project,” he replied. “There is a financial issue. And yes, every year it gets delayed it gets more expensive.”

Before it learned of the latest Amtrak problem, the Chamber of Commerce took an informal step, calling upon the town and the public to pressure federal and state authorities to construct the bridge.

“This project has slipped in priority in the past and it should not do so again. Hold the various entities involved in this development accountable for its successful completion in a public manner,” wrote Jim Rochford, the chair of the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Development Committee. Copies of comments from 20 Chamber members were handed out at a final meeting between the town’s Vision Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission on July 10. The comments do not reflect the official position of the Chamber of Commerce.

Over time a consensus has emerged among town leaders and business leaders as to where retail development should go. It wasn’t off Exit 56, where Rhode Island developer Churchill & Banks wants to erect Hilltop Centre, a proposed shopping area with high-end department stores. The Chamber endorsed the concept of focusing only on “industrial development” in the Exit 56 zone.

DaRos left no question where he stood. At the Board of Selectmen meeting last week he said he opposes large-scale retail development off Exit 56. He noted that the area is zoned industrial, specifically IG2, a “most liberal” designation but one that excludes retail development. He said a new regional YMCA had been approved for the Hilltop area, along with a new museum. He said the current Hilltop retail proposal “had many problems,” including high-density stores and serious traffic. The town’s Inland Wetlands Commission has rejected the project. “That is my opinion on it,” DaRos said.

The week before, as Wayne Cooke, the owner of the Hilltop property listened silently, the Vision Committee approved the proposed ten year plan, saying its emphasis on conservation and targeted business development reflects widespread community sentiment.

Over pizza and soda, 16 members of both groups summed up their thoughts at the July 10 meeting.

The Vision Committee, which began under Former First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris, held hearings, took surveys and generally engendered excitement as they gave their views on the ten year plan. Under state law, a town’s P&Z must submit a new plan every ten years.

Former Second Selectman Dick Sullivan, the Vision chair, went first. He told the group: “We listened to the community. No single document can represent any one person’s ideal of what the plan should be. As such the document is a compilation. But it does a very good job. We especially like the idea of village district,” he said referring to an idea that retains the characters of places like Stony Creek and Short Beach, Pine Orchard and the town Green.

Doug Marsh, the head of the Branford Land Trust, said the first priority is to protect ecologically sensitive areas. Second is the stewardship of the land. “We would reorder the priorities especially in a time when developers are acquiring those strategic parcels. We ought to get these strategic parcels, get them together and take care of them.” He did not identify them.

Karyl Lee Hall, co-chair of the Conservation/Environmental Commission, praised the report for incorporating so much of what the Vision committee had heard from the residents.

“What genuine admiration we have for the product because you really did a good job. Our comments are really only to enhance your work. That said, it means it couldn’t come at a better time. That it is a good document now at this moment is a gift because of the debate of how we are all going to handle the future as it evolves. It is going to be discussed, I suspect, in large measure on these terms. It is like a starting point for something we will talk about and it is a darn good starting place for the town. You have done a good service here.”

Some parts of the plan lie with the P&Z; other parts lie with the Board of Selectmen or Representative Town Meeting. Both groups will weigh in soon. Discord between the P&Z and the Vision committee has been evident at prior meetings, but the final meeting reflected nothing but good will. It turns out DaRos had brought both sides together.

DaRos told the Eagle that he spoke to key people in an effort to iron out differences and to explain to all the important impact of the Vision committee, a group that represents environmental and business interests but has no direct authority itself. “The most recent draft of the plan shows the impact of the Vision committee. They have begun to understand that,” he told the Eagle.

In addition, the final meeting of the Vision Committee and the P& Z, held in July, took 90 minutes, not 30, a time deadline that had produced anger at an earlier hearing.

There was a general consensus that the public had become deeply engaged in the town planning process.

Laura Collins, who represented the Chamber of Commerce on the Vision committee, said: “I would say that what has come of this whole process is a more engaged community at large. Let’s stoke it and keep it going.”

Shirley Rasmussen, the town planner, agreed. “The process has excited a lot of people. Many have become involved. The Chamber has too. The process has spawned a lot of different groups and projects. We don’t normally see this.”

Frank Carrano, the chair of the Board of Education, noted that the recent proposals regarding redistricting of political districts, showed how “emotion people become” over moving to another district to vote. “That was a very important message that they gave us. They want to preserve neighborhoods.”

The proposed plan will be nearing a final stage by the time it gets to the RTM on July 30. Then it will go to the Board of Selectman where it will be weighed for up to 65 days. By mid-October it will be submitted to the state,” Ellsworth McGuigan, the chair of the P&Z, said.

For all the work involved, it also appeared that the new plan may not last ten years because the unexpected gasoline crisis will have an impact on suburban living.

“The world is in a state of flux right now. We really don’t know what is going to happen and so much has changed since last year,” Glenn Chalder, of Planimetrics, the town’s outside planning company, told the group. “This plan may not last for ten years. It may be outdated quickly. We are planning as aggressively as we can. This may be a stronger plan than Branford has had but in three or four years it may not be the plan that it is now.”

Doug Marsh added that transportation needs may change radically. “We need to think of intra-Branford. There is no jitney service from the train station to other parts of Branford and we need that. We need more bicycle paths and sidewalks. We need to reduce the dependence on the automobile”.

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