NORWALK UNVEILS COLOR SCHEMES FOR GARAGE
NORWALK — The Yankee Doodle Garage on 3 Burnell Blvd. is a cold, gray structure. But not for long.
The city has unveiled an online survey where residents are invited to pick one of five choices for a new color scheme to the garage. According to Director Transportation, Mobility and Parking, Jim Travers, the survey has already received a lot of attention from residents which city spokesperson Michelle Woods Matthews said is a result of public interest in redeveloping the surrounding area.
Residents have until Sept. 21 to vote for their choice, but Travers said response has already been heavy.
“Nearly 48 hours after we launched our survey through social media, we have 524 responses,” Travers said.
The city previously asked for the public to share its thoughts on municipal designs. But people, city spokesperson Michelle Woods Matthews said, are really interested in the garage due to its connection to larger city redevelopment initiatives.
“While the city has generated public surveys regarding their input on designs, the tremendous feedback on the Yankee Doodle Garage design is encouraging and shows tremendous public interest in the revitalization of the Wall Street corridor,” Woods Matthews said.
Residents can pick from five color choices including blue, multicolor, blue and white, purple and light gray. A person can only pick one choice or if someone doesn’t like the options presented, the person can type in their own choice for the color scheme.
In addition to the new colors, the garage also is getting other improvements such as improved signs, landscaping, lighting, and cutting up the existing concrete ribs on the first floor, according to the survey.
The upgrades and aesthetic improvements are the result of earlier community out
reach. Construction is expected to begin in the spring.
The current makeover will be garage’s second in the past few years. The facility received new elevators and some updated lights in 2017. But Travers said the current plan is to improve the entire structure.
“We only lit the rear of the garage then. And what we really heard from the community is the desire to have the whole building be cohesive,” he said
The city presented design ideas to community members in early July at an in-person event at the garage. People were able to look at options and tour the various design options using a virtual reality headset. The cost for the renovations is expected to be about $1.2 million, Travers said in July. There is no cost difference between the designs, he said.
So far, he said, voting was split between a pair of front runners.
“With the initial feedback we had, 48 percent of the people liked blue, 48 percent of the people like rainbow,” he said. “We had one percent of the people like purple, and we had another one percent that said, ‘I wanted to see it more neutral.’”