When are we going to stop building on West Street??

[stellas mom]

I have lived in Southington for almost 25 years, having moved here from a Boston suburb. I love Southington with all my heart, and it's killing me that so much of the open land in town has been mowed down to build more & more homes. I live off of West Street, and I drove by what last week was a nicely treed lot at the edge of Hart St - what the heck is going on there???? When will the Planning & Zoning Commission stop allowing every little bit of open land to be developed? Who makes these decisions - I'd like to know because I want to vote them OUT!! Enough is enough!

The fairly new homes above this mowed-down area are now looking directly down onto West Street - not what they had planned on when they bought those expensive homes 10 yrs ago...did this new development go before the planning & zoning commission? How come I didn't hear about it? I read the Citizen every week and talk to my neighbors - nobody seems to know anything about it. Seems like this goes on all over town now-why???????

[Born&raised]

The PZC operates within the regulations on the books at the time the proposal comes before them. They don’t just make it up as they go along. If they say "no" and the owner of the land is within the regulations he will sue the town!!! If you don't like all the building why don't you start buying up all the land and start paying the taxes? If the town council decides to put a stop to all the building in town they will have a line out the door of the town hall of people getting land approved for development. People who at the present time have land and no plans to develop will rush to develop it before the new rule goes into affect. Maybe you should study the issues before you post rants publicly about a subject you know nothing about. Study up.................and then run a campaign to get yourself elected to the commission.

[facefacts]

QUOTE "Maybe you should study the issues before you post rants publicly about a subject you know nothing about"........ Think shes got a right to voice her opinion/ concerns wether or not we agree. That being said, be prepared for much more development on West St. The town recently just built a very large capacity sewer pumping station there ( adjacent the old Mcdonalds) to service future development. If you live that close and are concerned with more development you may want to consider moving from the area. Not trying to be rude, just a heads up.

[Modica]

QUOTE "Maybe you should study the issues before you post rants publicly about a subject you know nothing about"........ Think shes got a right to voice her opinion/ concerns wether or not we agree. That being said, be prepared for much more development on West St. The town recently just built a very large capacity sewer pumping station there ( adjacent the old Mcdonalds) to service future development. If you live that close and are concerned with more development you may want to consider moving from the area. Not trying to be rude, just a heads up.The Planning and Zoning people in Southington are the most corrupt bunch of people around. They have ruined a once great town with their over-development of the area. If I still lived in Southington I would vote to have these people removed from office. West St. is going to be another Queen St. In this economy what they are doing is ridiculous.

[stellas mom]

Thanks for your comments. I plan on voting out all of the current PZC slate on Election Day. I may not be "up on all the facts," but I know what I see every day when I drive on West Street.

The area on the Bristol-Southington line near ESPN is being aggressively developed, hence the need for the pumping station on that end of town.

The area I am most concerned with is West Street going towards Plantsville. We took a mostly narrow country road and have made it "larger" mostly so folks can go in & out of the Dunkin Donuts that sprung up there next to the Residence Inn, which is nice-looking from the road, clean & relatively quiet.

Also, residences & roads built on a hill so the water & soil runoff run right into the street. Bad design on all counts, and I don't care how many "facts" you may or may not have - bad design is bad design and shows a lack planning and common sense.

[Modica]

Thanks for your comments. I plan on voting out all of the current PZC slate on Election Day. I may not be "up on all the facts," but I know what I see every day when I drive on West Street.

The area on the Bristol-Southington line near ESPN is being aggressively developed, hence the need for the pumping station on that end of town.

The area I am most concerned with is West Street going towards Plantsville. We took a mostly narrow country road and have made it "larger" mostly so folks can go in & out of the Dunkin Donuts that sprung up there next to the Residence Inn, which is nice-looking from the road, clean & relatively quiet.

Also, residences & roads built on a hill so the water & soil runoff run right into the street. Bad design on all counts, and I don't care how many "facts" you may or may not have - bad design is bad design and shows a lack planning and common sense. The situation on West Street is absolute nonsense. I feel sorry for the people who live on West St. with all the speedy drivers and increased traffic. It just shows that there is something going on with these PZC officials. It doesn't take a genius to see that what they are doing is detremental to the town as a whole. From increased run off to dangerous road conditions to straining town services; it all makes not sense. Whose palms are getting greased?

[blue12345]

I don't get why people get so worked up about West Street, what is going on is good for the town!!!

Fisrt off the people complaining need to remember that when I was a kid, the whole area off Hart Street was a big forest with a road that was extremly dangerous. The town went in and allowed a development and fixed Hart Street which was an advantage for everyone involved, but now that others want to live in the area the people are making this into a big deal..its sad because the people who lived in this town let people move there in the first place, its kinda of hypocritical to get yours and then say its bad for others.

As far as the rest of West Street goes, developing it makes sense for many reasons.

First its a STATE road whcih means the state will pay for some of the upkeep of the road as opposed to developing a town road where we have to fork the whole bill.

Secon reason is the route of the road going into Bristol, the city of bristol has made it clear that it wants to develop their part of the road and since we are going to get the influx of traffic from people trying to get to 84 it makes sense to put OUR businesses there so people spend money in our town

[Carvosso]

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