The 75 people came together in the Branford High School cafeteria Wednesday to share their ideas about the town they hold dear. This was the evening to gather information for what First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris says is perhaps her most important project. And it worked. Led by a professional hired by the town, many residents were grateful to be in a quiet place where they could talk about the town’s future absent the recent confrontations over development.
Glenn Chalder’s Avon, CT. company, Planimetrics, specializes in helping towns arrive at comprehensive plans for land use, development and zoning. He asked each table, about 11 in all, to list the themes they considered vital to the town’s future. Over the next 80 minutes they wrote them down on long white sheets of paper entitled “Branford Vision Project.”At the top of the page was an intriguing statement: “In 2030, Branford Should be a Community Where….” The residents began to talk, to butt heads, as one put it, to respond to ideas as they sought to finish the sentence. The Eagle asked if she could eavesdrop as the conversation got underway. Here is what she heard: “We need to preserve our shoreline. We need to curtail development, lessen traffic.” “We want the population to stay about what it is now,” (about 29,000).” We need quality parks.” “We need to maintain the historic quality and small town feeling.” “I’d like to see the town more connected by sidewalks. Or jitneys.” “Let’s contain urban sprawl.” “We need affordable housing.” “We need to stabilize property taxes so that people who have lived here a long time should not be forced to move.”These ideas became themes. Then one person at each table read them aloud. It soon became clear that the main agenda would center on preserving open space, maintaining the historic quality and small town feeling, enlivening local business, creating a weekly farmer’s market, finding new ways for affordable housing and increasing cultural activities.
Terry Elton, the town’s special projects manager, put each table’s written recommendations on a movable wall. Chalder asked one table after another to come up to the wall and place small round orange circles on the themes they care most about.When it was all over, and the orange circles were counted, it turned out that the top vote getter was preserving open space, the shoreline and as John Opie put it, the quality of life, “where like Cheers, everyone knows your name.” Opie, the current Third Selectman, is running for the First Selectman’s position. So is Unk DaRos, who also attended the event and approved of the proceedings.The Branford Planning and Zoning Commission has also been at work on a plan for the town’s future, one they are required under state law to submit by year’s end. One possible impact, given the strong pressure for open space in town, is that Branford’s Select Committee for Open Space Acquisition, which DaRos began during his former term, will play a more significant role in acquiring property. It has been instrumental in the acquisition of a number of properties, including the Queach. A lot depends on how current available land is zoned.Second Selectman Dick Sullivan, who chairs the Vision committee, told the Democratic Town Committee last night that residents were pleased by the process. The committee includes representatives from several Town Commissions, town officials, the Branford Land Trust, the Chamber of Commerce and others. He added that he hoped the data received from the citizens could be incorporated into the P& Z Commission’s work, to see if some of the town’s zoning regulations could be revised. He did not say which ones or why.This is the first time that there has been a broad outreach for citizen involvement. Indeed a notice to attend the two meetings came with the town’s tax bills. A second and final public meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 27th at 7.p.m at the Branford High School cafeteria.Wayne Cooke, the owner of Hilltop Orchards and one of the large property owners in town, addressed the group, praising the town and the citizens for coming together. Cooke is now seeking to sell part of his land for development of a mall near exit 56.Cooke said of the meeting: “This kind of thing has never been tried before. It is very important for people to come together to share ideas. This was a really good start and I am going to encourage others to be here next week.”In general it appeared that the audience of 75 represented a cross-section of the town’s citizens, except that few, if any, were young.Town officials encouraged everyone to take a Vision survey that can be found on the town’s website. Click here. A telephone survey will be conducted in the fall.###
