‘IT’S REALLY A CALL TO ACTION’
Visions of modern housing, retail emerge in Danbury master plan
Danbury is one of the fastest growing cities in the state but its growth is not distributed evenly. Economic development and housing construction are booming on the west side, for example, while the downtown economy is stagnant.
DANBURY — A Main Street parking lot could be transformed into modern apartments and shops, and a stretch of White Street automotive uses could be converted into contemporary retail and rental units under a master plan for the next 10 years that is nearing completion.
The theoretical developments, which are featured in the master plan to show the possibilities for economic development that zoning can create for downtown Danbury, are the latest elements to be added to a draft document that will guide the city’s land use decisions for the next decade.
“It looks great. I couldn’t be happier about it,” said Arnold Finaldi, chairman of Danbury’s Planning Commission and a member of a task force of city leaders that has been working for two years to create the new master plan. “To sit here and look at it and see it coming to life; I just want to say, well done.”
Finaldi’s comments came at the close of a task force meeting on Aug. 23, where lead consultant Francisco Gomes showed the group color renderings of how underdeveloped pockets of downtown Danbury could be transformed with modern apartments and attractive shops, should zoning be updated to reflect priorities in the new master plan.
In the place of a Main Street parking lot between the Salvation Army store and St. Peter Church, for example, Gomes showed an artist’s drawing of a sleek glass-and-brick development with ground level retail, café tables, and 86 upper-floor apartments.
“Here the goal is to provide as continuous a street façade as possible, with lower-level restaurants and retail and upper-level housing,” Gomes said during the task force meeting. “The zoning for the most part permits this type of development now, but one of the biggest constraints is parking; the lower you get those parking ratios the more development you can get on the site.”
Similarly, in the place of several blocks of automotive uses and eateries on White Street at Granville Avenue, Gomes showed the task force the clean lines of 38-unit mixed-use development with 13,000-square feet of retail shops. The concept would not only require a willing developer and the consent of the land-owner, of course, but a more thorough city review of the zoning
changes necessary to make it happen, noted the city’s top planner, Sharon Calitro.
Gomes said the purpose of the renderings was to show leaders and Danbury residents that it is possible to breathe life into the stagnant Main Street corridor with visionary planning.
“This is obviously some very modern or contemporary-looking architecture but that is the scale and the setback and the urban feel that is possible on the site if some of the zoning regulations are modified to allow for this type of development,” Gomes said.
The renderings are part of a 200-page master plan nearing completion that is expected to be adopted after a public hearing in December.
“It is really a call to action,” Gomes said of the plan. “We received over 3,000 individual comments from participants who gave a lot of thought and effort to taking the survey — some of which were critical — and I believe the plan directly addresses many of the critical comments we have heard.”
Some of those citizen comments are included in the plan, which will be available for residents to review on the city website as soon as November.
“The comments range from very supportive and positive to some that are very critical,” Gomes said. “We didn’t want to discriminate against people who have a critical view…we want their voices to be heard as well so we included some of their comments to implore the city to take action.”
Danbury is one of the fastest growing cities in the state but its growth is not distributed evenly. Economic development and housing construction are booming on the west side, for example, while the downtown economy is stagnant.
The new master plan will be an important tool to help Danbury manage its growth and “encourage housing development in places where the infrastructure can best support it,” Gomes said.
There is nothing binding or encumbering in the plan, except that future land use decisions must be in harmony with the principles of the document.
“Not all of this is going to be done, but it all needs to be on the table,” Gomes said. “The best we can do is point to the highest priorities so the city can focus on them.”