Town of Bethel Connecticut Website



Town of Bethel
WWW           

Land Use Department

Plan of Development
Bethel, Connecticut

12 APPENDIX C: JUNE 1996 PUBLIC WORKSHOP

The June 13, 1996 Public Workshop regarding Bethel's Plan of Future Development was a great success. Approximately 60 people attended the meeting, all with a wide range of ideas about how to lead Bethel into the 21st Century.

Following a slide show presentation given by Harlan Sexton entitled "Postcards for Bethel" and a short coffee break, all attendees were asked to sit at one of six designated tables: (1) General Land Use Goals; (2) Downtown Design and Development; (3) Route 6, Economic Development, Transportation Circulation; (4) Environmental Protection and Utilities; (5) Community Facilities, Park and Recreation; and (6) Housing. Attendees generally picked a table according to their interest. Planning and Zoning Commission Board Members and Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart Inc. consultants also sat at the tables to observe and facilitate conversation. In order to further centralize discussion, each table was given a handout containing several questions about one of the above six topics. For approximately one hour, Bethelites discussed the questions, and wrote down their responses. Then, one person from each table volunteered to present their table's ideas to the entire group. The responses have been typed, and are attached to the memo.

The participants' enthusiasm and willingness to be involved in this workshop was impressive. A plethora of ideas and goals for the town were formulated and addressed. The following is a transcription of the issues and community goals discussed at the various roundtables.

GENERAL LAND USE GOALS

1. For each category, what is the most pressing issue facing Bethel?

Housing

  • Keep residential, Discourage apartments.

Community Facilities

(no answer)

Open Space

  • There is sufficient amount of open space.

Utilities

(no answer)

Transportation and Circulation

  • Downtown traffic flow needs to be addressed
  • Payne Road issue regarding trucks needs to be addressed.
  • Protect home owner investment where possible.

Economic Development

(no answer)

2. For each category above, what one action or policy would make a difference? Who should do it?

(no answer)

3. In the next planning phase, the Planning and Zoning Commission and Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart Inc. will be doing a series of special studies. For each of these topics, what is the most pressing issue?

Route 6

  • Guard against over-development

Downtown

  • Make the downtown of Bethel a historic district.

Affordable Housing

  • Sufficient at this time. Take a look at ground level entry housing as opposed to town homes.

Community Design

  • Design measures are needed, considering the Citgo canopy fiasco.

Community Facilities

  • Library expansion is needed.

4. For each topic above, what one action or policy would make a difference? Who should do it?

(no answer)

Overall Land Use Goals (as listed by the group)

  • Keep the "look" of the town as is. Retain the small town, New England feel.
  • Define what type of business you want to attract, i.e.: small businesses vs. "chain" type stores.
  • Use existing vacant land and buildings, i.e.: the old railroad station.
  • The downtown should be defined as a historical district in order to have the final voice on architectural control.

DOWNTOWN DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

Table 1

1. What is the downtown's largest asset?

Tangible Assets

  • Center & focus (downtown)
  • Mix
  • Character of buildings
  • Hometown type of businesses
  • Defined edge

Intangible Assets

  • New England feel
  • Sense of security
  • Friendly
  • History

Table 2

  • Library
  • Small town atmosphere
  • Convenience
  • Accessibility
  • Well-maintained buildings

2. What is the biggest problem?

Table 1

  • Parking - no signage (directional), lack of municipal parking lots
  • Truck traffic
  • Condition of sidewalks
  • Inadequate trash baskets, litter
  • Landscape quality
  • Merchant signs
  • Poor zoning standards

Table 2

  • Traffic flow - especially during commuting hours and Saturdays
  • Maintenance of sidewalks
  • Lack of accessibility to I-84
  • Separation from Stony Hill (no community sense there)
  • Dearth of "necessity" shopping opportunities (a purpose for coming to Bethel)
  • Eyesore properties (O'Donnell's and environs)

3. What are the most pressing issues regarding:

Urban design and architecture in the downtown

Table 1

  • Inadequate guidelines and controls, i.e.: far side of railroad tracks and the Food Bag canopy
  • Incentives for preservation
  • Cohesive design for streetscape

Table 2

  • Maintaining uniqueness of architecture
  • Issues of right to private property vs. maintaining Bethel's charm
  • Allowing for green space

Movement of cars and people; parking

Table 1

  • Inadequate parking
  • Better defined crosswalks (add signs, consistent widths)
  • Traffic moves too fast

Table 2

  • Traffic flow on Greenwood
  • parking for businesses on Greenwood
  • Signage for Municipal Center parking

Development: stores, services, offices, apartments

Table 1

  • Contain development
  • Use vacant sites
  • Provide adequate parking
  • More promotional and marketing tactics

Table 2

  • Affordable housing
  • "Essentials" stores (choice of food markets)
  • Susceptibility to fires
  • Tourism

4. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

Table 1

Action: Change and refine zoning standards (i.e.: signage, setbacks and architectural quality)
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Action: Ensure pedestrian scale for downtown
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Action: Quick-fix landscaping
Who: Chamber of Commerce/Civic Center

Action: Ensure compactness of downtown
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Action: Old railroad station development
Who: Board of Selectmen

Action: Traffic and parking improvements
Who: Department of Transportation/Department of Public Works

Table 2

Action: Sidewalk snow removal policies (maintenance and responsibility)
Who: Private owners, Town, and State

Action: Architectural review committee for designated downtown district
Who: (no answer)

Action: Coordinated/compatible street signs
Who: (no answer)

Action: No chain stores in the downtown district
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Action: Bicycle trails and green space
Who: (no answer)

ROUTE 6, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TRANSPORTATION & CIRCULATION

Route 6

1. What is Route 6's biggest asset?

Table 1

  • Location relative to I-84
  • Sewers
  • Commercial property
  • Corporate Parks off Rt. 6
  • Route 6 itself is an asset!

Table 2

  • Proximity to I-84 (exits 8 & 9)
  • (Potential) sewers along entire length
  • (Potential) tax base growth

2. What is the most pressing issue regarding the development charter of Route 6?

Table 1

  • Shopping center similar to Sand Hill Plaza
  • Aesthetics of design of proposed sites
  • Water

Table 2

  • Impact on residential areas due to increased traffic congestion

3. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

Table 1

Action: Partnership between homeowners and property owners along the Rt. 6 corridor, including State of Connecticut.
Who: Mediated by the Planning and Zoning Commission

Table 2

Action: Maintain character of Rt. 6 - keep two-lane as opposed to four-lane. Discourage "strip" development
Who: (no answer)

Action: Develop strong design review with quality guidelines.
Who: Planning and zoning Commission with Economic Development Commission

Economic Development

1. What is the town's biggest asset with regard to economic development?

Table 1

  • Route 6 is the town's biggest asset!
  • Route 6's location to I-84

Table 2

  • Proximity to Route 6 (four communities)

2. What is the most pressing economic development issue facing Bethel?

Table 1

  • Raising the tax base
  • Utilizing and broadening our tax base

Table 2

  • Maintain strong tax base (diversified)

3. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

Table 1

Action: Better utilization of the Economic Development Commission

Table 2

Action: Maintain strong tax base (diversified)
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Transportation and Circulation

1. What is the town's biggest asset with regard to the movement of cars, trucks, and people?

Table 1

  • Well maintained State and Town roads (i.e.: Rt. 6 and Rt. 302)
  • Hart bus service along Rt. 6

Table 2

  • Route 6 with improvements to Sky Edge Drive and I-84 interchange

2. What is the biggest issue?

Table 1

  • Traffic control systems need to be redesigned
  • Traffic increase from Newtown's future growth along Route 6
  • Better access between Route 6 and Downtown Bethel

Table 2

  • Better coordination of signals

3. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

Table 1

Action: Design review team for landscape/design of future development land uses
Who: (no answer)

Action: Aesthetically pleasing greenway along the Route 6 corridor
Who: (no answer)

Table 2

Planning and Zoning Commission with Economic Development Commission

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION & UTILITIES

** To a large extent, these issues overlap

Environmental Protection

1. What is Bethel's greatest asset with regard to environmental protection?

  • Protected surface water/supply

2. What is the most pressing issue?

  • Protection of subsurface water supply/aquifers

3. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

Action: More planning necessary to promote, protect and maintain environment
Who: (no answer)

Utilities

1. What is Bethel's greatest utility asset?

  • Landfill is closed - waste disposal is outsourced

2. What is the most pressing issue?

  • Domestic /small quantity point source has waste (no policy)
  • Inadequate collection
  • Poor Environment such as "refuse"
  • No opposition to disposal of bulky refuse
  • Street litter

3. What actions would make a difference? Who should do these?

Action: Unified policy to manage small source/disperse waste
Who: (no answer)

Action: Zoning re: Major wells
Who: (no answer)

Action: Policy on household and home business waste
Who: (no answer)

Action: Rules for bulky waste disposal
Who: (no answer)

Action: "Adopt-a-road" policy
Who: (no answer)

Action: build more conservation subdivisions
Who: (no answer)

Other

"You can use sewers to direct growth. Is there any kind of plan that relates to land use that the sewer commission can look back and refer to?"
"The big utilities are already in place." (Identified official sewer area)"
"Who interfaces/coordinates the agencies involved so that the master plan is followed?"

COMMUNITY FACILITIES, PARKS & RECREATION

Facilities

1. Which facilities are Bethel's greatest assets?

  • Educational park and ball fields
  • Municipal Center
  • Library
  • Downtown
  • New train station

2. Which facilities have the greatest problems?

  • Lack of a youth center (no town-wide dancing or concerts)
  • Maintenance - municipal buildings with roof problems
  • Library is too cramped
  • Trash cans needed in downtown area and in parks
  • Sand on streets needs to be picked up before May 31
  • No swimming pool
  • No community building program

3. What new or expanded facilities could Bethel support?

  • Youth center
  • Expanded library
  • Community building program

Parks and Recreation

1. What is Bethel's greatest asset with regard to its parks and recreation?

  • Tim Burke and Eileen Earle and the Parks & Rec. staff
  • Program Director and diversity of programs
  • Ball fields are well maintained

2. What is the most pressing parks and recreation issue?

  • Lack of teen programs or teen facility

3. What action or policy would make a difference? Who should do this?

Action: Teen programs or a teen/youth facility
Who: Government/Private

Open Space

1. What is Bethel's greatest asset with regard to open space?

  • Bethel still as 38% of its open space left
  • Trail system behind Educational Park
  • 80 acres of land around Wolfpits Road

2. What is the most pressing open space issue?

  • No safety net to preserve open space. We don't want to use all of the open space!

3. What action or policy would make a difference? Who should do this?

Action: Create a green-belt between open spaces (easements across properties). Need a large amount of open space in one place. Green-belt needed for biking, hiking and horse trails
Who: Planning and Zoning Commission

Action: Sidewalks around the schools
Who: (no answer)

HOUSING

1. What is Bethel's greatest housing asset?

  • Diversity of homes (size, age, price, and type)

2. What is the most pressing issue with regard to housing?

  • Affordable housing - Bethel needs more housing for young couples
  • Bethel does not need low income housing. Bethel should not try to attract low income housing.

3. What actions or policies would make a difference? Who should do these?

  • Citations should be given to Landlords who do not maintain their properties.
  • Planning and Zoning Commission should discourage low income housing.
  • Planning and Zoning Commission should limit the amount of two or three family homes in Bethel, especially in the downtown region.
  • Planning and Zoning Commission should end condominium construction in Bethel.