Plan outlines a more mobile, more affordable, less congested Danbury

Danbury has adopted a master plan for the next decade that could make the city more mobile and more affordable with less congestion and less crowding. Here is what you should know about the 215-page plan.

• 3,000 voices helped shape the ideas and recommendations in the plan

Although the master plan was developed over two years by consultants and a task force of city leaders, scores of residents’ comments are featured in sections of the master plan dealing with cultural resources, land use, economic development and city services. Not all the 3,000 comments from Danbury residents that were received during public outreach are included in document but scores of those comments are included at the front of each master plan section to show that it represents “a diversity of perspectives.”

• Where Danbury will grow over the next decade

New housing and commercial development should be concentrated along the Interstate 84 corridor that cuts through the booming west side, the downtown business district and the commercial east end of the city, the master plan says. That means residents who live in a neighborhood in northernmost or southernmost Danbury likely won’t see a zoning change.

• Danbury is a ‘victim of its own success’

The overarching problem that the master plan found is that Danbury is a “victim of its own success,” in the words of one survey respondent. Overcrowded schools, traffic congestion and a downtown Main Street that’s more thoroughfare than public square topped the list of challenges residents shared because of Danbury’s steady population growth and commercial development — especially on the booming west side.

To address widespread concern about Danbury growing too quickly and losing its character in the process, the master plan has multiple strategies to harness the city’s runaway growth, including investing in infrastructure improvements and encouraging the construction of affordable housing downtown.

Danbury’s population poised to outpace Fairfield County with ‘wave of younger adults’

The city’s population is poised to grow at six times the rate of Fairfield County over the next two decades and make Danbury younger in the process, the master plan projects. The projection, based on migration, birth rate and the number of kids in Danbury schools, means the city has a good opportunity to “capture the

wave” of younger adults. Overall, the surrounding towns in Fairfield County are not expected to grow over the next two decades, but to see the county population drop by 4 percent by 2040. Projections show Danbury growing by 12 percent from its current 85,000 to 95,000 people.

Traffic volume has been decreasing

If it sounds hard to believe that traffic volume has been “trending downwards” since 2004, you are not alone. Some city leaders could not believe what they were hearing. But that is one of the findings in the master plan. A consultant who helped Danbury complete the master plan said the traffic volume data is credible but perhaps not representative of all neighborhoods. The master plan recommends better traffic management of the type the city is contemplating with a $6.6 million state grant.