ROUTE 7 CENTRAL CORRIDOR/REGIONAL RETAIL CENTER
Existing Land Use
The Route 7 Central Corridor, between Lanesville Road and Veterans Bridge, which leads to New Milford's Village Center, is somewhat typical of many regional commercial strips “leading out of town.” It includes older, small retail facilities, gas stations, and fast food restaurants. Some of these older commercial properties are several decades old. These have been supplemented by more recent, large scale retail development, in the form of shopping centers. Interspersed between these uses are single-family residential homes and subdivisions, and more recently constructed multi-family developments. There are also several large retail development projects in various stages of planning and construction.
Land Use Influences
This area includes the entire range of land uses, from heavy industrial uses to single family residential. This includes large and small retail uses, public and private schools, small industrial uses and large number of small automobile oriented uses.
Many of the properties within this area are small, most being under one-acre in size. This makes redevelopment in this section more difficult.
There is a large degree of incompatibility or potential incompatibility amongst the differing land uses within this area. This existing and potential incompatibility may be problematic for future development and redevelopment efforts.
There are several residential areas within this corridor that have access off of Route 7, often thorough a commercial or industrial area.
This area has been developed rather intensively. This intensive development is largely a function of the historic development patterns as well as the small land parcel sizes.
Despite the intensity of development, there are few pedestrian accommodations along the road.
A concentration of large commercial uses is emerging near the intersections of Dodd Road and Blue Bonnet Knoll. There is vacant land within this vicinity that will allow the expansion of this growing commercial node.
Other smaller concentrations of commercial development are emerging in different areas of this corridor. The challenge is to try to ensure that these nodes develop in a cohesive way, rather than as just separate developments.
There are large amounts of vacant land west of this corridor.
The character of certain stretches of this road is overwhelmingly automobile oriented, with uses such as drive-in fast food restaurants, gasoline stations and convenience stores.
This area begins just across the bridge from Downtown New Milford. Most of the commercial development that has occurred within this corridor is very different from what has occurred in the revitalization of downtown New Milford. However, care must be taken that development within this area be supportive, not competitive with downtown.
EDC Strategic Initiatives
The emerging commercial node near the intersection of Dodd Road should be reinforced in the following ways:
- Intensive retail development on the east side of the road.
- Additional retail development on infill sites on west side of road.
- There should be internal vehicular access between adjacent retail developments. The developers should be required to grant access easements to the owners of adjacent properties or the Town.
- Sidewalks should be placed along these sections of Route 7.
- New retail developments should be designed to be more pedestrian friendly than a typical strip retail center. They should be developed in somewhat of a village oriented framework.
- Each shopping center should have pedestrian linkages to adjacent centers.
- New centers should include buildings that are placed near the street, in order to establish a sense of place streetscape. Parking should be to the side or rear of the frontage buildings.
- Redevelopment of smaller commercial areas should be encouraged through zoning incentives to encourage consolidation of districts. This could include higher coverage ratios, or the elimination of side yard setback requirements when two adjacent properties are developed in a unified manner.
- This area should be subject to a strong access management system that would enhance the traffic carrying capacity of the road, improve safety, and reduce future congestions as described in the overall recommendations of Section VIII.
- Mixed use development consisting of retail, hotel, office and related uses should be encouraged just south of the intersection of Fort Hill Road. This area offers the opportunity of providing a strong anchor for the north end of the corridor, in conjunction with the Big Y plaza across the street. Perhaps more importantly, it can be an adjunct and supportive use for downtown New Milford.
A mixed use development within this area should include the following elements to make it a successful anchor to the corridor and a complementary adjunct to downtown New Milford:
- The development should be designed to foster synergy between the various uses. The mixed-use should not be a collection of different uses surrounded by parking lots.
- The mixed use developments should be centered around and oriented towards a central feature, such as a plaza, square, or some attraction.
- The mixed use development should have a strong pedestrian orientation. Although any development will still utilize the automobile as the major means of transportation, it should encourage a “park once” orientation. This would encourage walking to link the various components of the projects.
- The development should be viewed as adjunct and supportive of downtown New Milford. The developments should create and utilize safe and attractive pedestrian linkages across the Housatonic River into downtown, with downtown development expanding towards the bridge and river to accommodate newer development across the river. This may, in addition to an attractive pedestrian linkage across the bridge, include parklands along the river. This may also require a redesign of the intersection at the corner of Bridge Street and Route 7 which de-emphasizes vehicular traffic circulation in favor of more pedestrian friendly circulation.
- A life style type of retail center may be an appropriate use within this area, as long as it includes a strong pedestrian orientation and has a strong linkage across the bridge into downtown New Milford.
The zoning regulations should contain enhanced design and landscaping regulations for the automobile oriented and small retail uses that proliferate along the corridor.
Well designed multi-family uses are appropriate under certain circumstances along the corridor, if they do not detract from the primary commercial function of this area. Multi-family development may be used as an effective redevelopment use, particularly for rear properties along the corridor.
There are large vacant areas on the west side of Route 7 behind some of the frontage retail properties. Many of these properties are along Sunny Valley Road. These properties should be used for office or low intensive light industrial uses, offices, small retail and other related uses that would not detract from the residential uses up the hill.
The O&G facility along Still River Drive has been in this area for several decades, well before the area began its transition to a commercial corridor. Although there are no known plans to discontinue this use, from the perspective of the Town there are higher and better uses for this property. This use currently is not supportive of future uses of the corridor, yet it does represent an important business within the community. If O & G is contemplating the reuse of this site, or portions thereof, the Town should engage with them the formulation of a re-use strategy.
Potential uses include general manufacturing, offices and related uses. There may be some initial opportunities for the use of currently underutilized land for the development of small manufacturing or contracting facilities.
There are several relatively small residential enclaves surrounded by commercial and/or industrial use. Eventual redevelopment of the entire areas into commercial or industrial uses may be feasible and preferable over the long run. However, it would require each of the property owners to sell their homes, and would be extremely difficult. The residential zoning of these areas should be retained at this point, as rezoning without acquisition of all properties would create incompatible uses within these areas, and not lead to beneficial redevelopment.
However, if at some point in the future, a developer is successful in acquiring all the properties within one of these residential enclaves, redevelopment into commercial or industrial uses should be viewed favorably.
The John Pettibone Elementary School at the corner of Pickett District Road and Route 7 has an unusual location as elementary schools are usually located within and surrounded by residential neighborhoods. This school appears to be within walking distance of only the small multi-family complexes along Pickett District Road. Traffic volumes and the lack of sidewalks along Route 7 would seem to preclude any “walkers” from the residential neighborhoods west of Route 7. At some point, the New Milford Board of Education may wish to consider acquisition of a new site for a school that is safer and more functional as part of a residential neighborhood. This site could be sold for high value commercial development.