Correction, 1:30 p.m.: New plan every 10 years. Updated, 8:20 a.m.: Copy edits
NORWALK, Conn. – Criticisms of the draft city-wide master plan on Tuesday centered on the Wall Street area for some and the harbor for others.
A series of speakers said there are too many plans being developed at once, at the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the draft Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) — which would set Norwalk’s priorities for the next decade.
“I urge you not to rush this through to get something off your plate. This is something that is going to be long term,” Harbor Management Commissioner John Romano said.
The hearing was part one of two; it will continue next week at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The 290-page plan, which also includes 73 pages of appendices, was developed after a series of public meetings that began in late summer of 2017. Concurrently, the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency was working on the Wall Street-West Avenue Neighborhood Plan and the Parking Authority was beginning a parking study.
Connecticut requires its municipalities to update their city-wide plans every 10 years. Norwalk hired Stantec to assist in the effort, and Stantec principal Larissa Brown on Tuesday offered highlights to the more than 50 people gathered in the City Hall community room.
The vision that has been developed is “almost the constitution of the plan,” she said.
The vision is:
“By 2029, the City of Norwalk has become a national example of a small city that boasts a thriving and dynamic economy; varied housing choices for all income levels; many safe and convenient ways to get around the city, including biking and walking; connected, accessible and beautiful open spaces; and an active and resilient coastline. Norwalk is the center of art, culture and entertainment for our region. We combine the character of a historic New England community on the coast of Long Island Sound with a thriving city in the country’s largest metropolitan area.”
Brown went on to explain Norwalk trends. “Like many other communities, you are in transition from baby boom generation to millenials and what they call Gen Z,” and, “although people may think of Norwalk has having a population boom it’s actually in the grand scheme of things quite modest,” she said.
She listed what she views as Norwalk’s strengths: “The waterfront, the coastal location, within an environment – it’s still possible to live in Norwalk and without being a millionaire, and be close to the coast and take advantage of that.”
Many small cities in New England would be very happy to see the kind of development that Norwalk is experiencing, she said. The overwhelming top priority listed by the POCD oversight committee, and by other citizens, was to rewrite and modernize the Zoning Code.
That’s not uncommon: “there are tons of amendments and they get hard to understand,” she said.
Survey respondents also expressed a desire for economic development. “That is something that in fact looks like it’s happening with the reorganization of city government,” she said.
Schools are key and people also want to see better communication from the City, she said.
Criticism of the neglect on harbor issues came first from Shellfish Commissioner Steve Bartush.
The plan “seems to omit the ‘C’ in POCD,” Bartush said. The ‘C’ stands for “Conservation”.
“Commercial and recreation shellfish depends on the larger subtidal and intertidal ecosystem and these ecosystems depend on water quality,” he said. Bartush noted that the Shellfish Commission worked with Harbor Management and the Mayor’s Water Quality Committee to submit suggestions.
“We supported their recommendation that the ‘C’ efforts should have equaled the ‘D’ efforts so therefore we conclude that the draft POCD doesn’t support coastal conservation,” he said. He went on to express concern that a Dec. 14 letter from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection decrying insufficient analysis of coastal resource issues had been ignored.
“For now, minus more of the ‘C’ we would have to give the draft plan a temporary ‘F,’” Bartush said.
Harbor Management Commissioner John Romano said it would be best to blend the POCD with the Harbor Management Plan, because “there’s got to be some sort of consistency in the management of the harbor, our resources, as well as economic development.”
“The plan does not seem to reflect any of the remarks that we have made over time and those remarks go back many months — documentation of two in May and then the November one, none of it has been incorporated into the plan which is quite worrisome,” Romano said.
Bike/Walk Commission Chairwoman Nancy Rosett said the Commission is pleased overall but would like to see a Complete Streets approach as a priority, with education and outreach efforts.
The Coalition of Norwalk Neighborhood Associations (CNNA) has “repeatedly expressed concern about multiple plans coming from City Hall,” unaffiliated mayoral candidate Lisa Brinton said. “You have assured us that all these plans will be integrated. With all due respect, we can’t even fix POKO in the center of town.”
“Everybody badmouths” the Wall Street area, Michael McGuire said.
“Even as I watch the presentation, we are getting dinged,” he said. “… Small developers have made a big difference. We don’t have to (hit) grand slams like POKO is supposed to be. Hitting a single is fine. Getting hit by a pitch works.”
McGuire lamented that the plan doesn’t advocate for a Wall Street train station; Commissoner Nora King pointed out that it does, on page 191, which is in Part IV of the online document.
At the next hearing, “I would like your input on how that is worded,” she said. “I would find that very useful as a Commissioner.”
“That is the nicest thing that anyone has said to me in 18 years,” he quipped.
Wall Street-area real estate mogul Jason Milligan said he’s encouraged by the POCD’s stated goals and impressed at how the meetings were run, but also confused. “I have read all of {the plans} and I have to tell you, I am a bit confused with what’s going on right now,” he said. “There are a lot of plans. They are all north of 100 pages and they come out, they are edited and so you have four or five versions. The timing of them is far from ideal if we want everyone to get what’s going on.”
The plan’s appendix states: “The City determined that a single outreach platform would be preferable to three different sets of messages and web sites for public information and engagement for all of these studies and for future planning initiatives. This became the Norwalk Tomorrow planning initiative.”
Adolph Neaderland closed out the hearing.
“I think the plan… is reasonably good,” he said. “However, I think what’s really missing is where do we really start? Is it possible to implement this plan, which would be idealistic, with the organization we now have? I don’t think so.”
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