BY DIRK PERREFORT
Hearst Connecticut Media
Downtown Bethel is due for a facelift.
Construction crews will soon be busy as officials move forward with plans to make the area more attractive for visitors and safer for pedestrians.
The effort is an expansion of an original streetscape project completed more than a decade ago along Greenwood Avenue that included paver sidewalks, old-style street lamps and decorative trees. The latest project, funded with a $290,000 state grant, will include improvements on adjoining side streets, including Library Place and School Street, as well as a new brick patio on P.T. Barnum Square.
“The downtown really says a lot about a town, and we want to make sure ours is as attractive as it can be,” said Janice Chrzescijanek, Bethel’s economic development coordinator. “An attractive and safe downtown will not only attract new visitors, but also new businesses.”
Chrzescijanek spent nearly six months pulling together the grant application through the state’s Main Street Investment Fund, and received word last fall of its approval. Local officials have also applied for a $500,000 state grant for a second phase of the project that would extend streetscape improvements further along Greenwood Avenue to Grassy Plain Street.
“This is a wonderful investment in our community,” said Donna Boylan, owner of Boylan Chiropractic on the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Library Place.
Town officials are hoping to coordinate improvements on Library Place in front of Boylan’s building, including a new sidewalk and angled parking, with ongoing facade improvements to the building.
Boylan said she decided to undertake the facade improvements herself after replacing the directory sign last year.
“We are updating the building and giving a new look that’s more fitting with the town’s New England character,” Boylan said. “The old facade was very popular in the 1960s, when the building was constructed, but it needed a fresh, crisp look. This is really our gift to Bethel.”
Steve Palmer, director of the town planning department, said they applied for about $50,000 in additional funds to assist Boylan with the facade work, but that part of the application was denied.
“She had approached us prior to applying for the grant about wanting to improve her building,” he said. “The work that she is doing will fit in very nicely with the streetscape improvements. We are hoping to coordinate so that both projects can be done at once.”
Palmer said the streetscape improvements will include a new sidewalk on the south side of School Street, where none exists now, as well as trees and lighting on both sides of the street. Library Place and Durant Avenue will also receive some accessibility improvements to the sidewalks.
On Front Street, which runs parallel to train tracks from the Metro-North Danbury Branch line, existing parking will be improved, along with an attractive fencing barrier near the tracks, Palmer said.
Chrzescijanek said she is particularly excited about a new “gathering place” that will be created on P.T. Barnum Square with the brick patio, which will extend the circular pattern surrounding the Dough Boy statue and include tables and chairs for downtown visitors.
“It will a great place to eat some take-out from a local restaurant or just sit and relax and read a book,” Chrzescijanek said.
She added that the work originally called for a town center plan written in early 2014 with input from an advisory committee. The project is also designed to work in tandem with a transit-oriented development in the works along Durant Avenue, where existing industrial property surrounding the train station will be rezoned for residential and commercial use, as well as new sidewalks to be installed this year along Wooster Street, to be paid for through a separate grant.
“It’s been a very long process and a lot of planning behind the scenes, but we are very excited that these improvements are happening,” Chrzescijanek said.
Palmer said he hopes to release a request for proposals for the work soon, after which town officials will select a contractor for the job.
“The hope is that we can start the project later this summer,” he said.
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News-Times (Danbury). See newstimes.com for more from this reporter.
