By all accounts, the Henny Penny project underway at the intersection of Day Street and Route 67 is a good thing for Seymour.
An old building was torn down, and the empty lot in a business zone is being developed into an actual business.
In this case it’s a Henny Penny convenience store and gas station. Yeah, it’s not an Apple store or Whole Foods or whatever you may want to personally see at the location, but it’s better than the vacant property that previously greeted motorists approaching Seymour’s downtown business district.
Yet a state-mandated traffic light almost stopped the redevelopment project in it tracks.
As part of its approval, the state Department of Transportation required a $300,000 traffic light.
The investor balked at the price and nearly walked away from the project, but Seymour’s representatives in Hartford were able to step in and push the project through, First Selectman Kurt Miller said.
It’s those type of roadblocks to economic development local leaders want removed, a group of the top elected officials in the Valley said Wednesday.
“I would hope that, in the future, the state DOT would be a little more open and receptive. I know it was a small project, but it’s economic development. It’s a gateway to our community,” Miller said. “We got it through and it is taken care of — but we should not have had to jump through so many hoops and almost lose the developer.”
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman came to the Valley Council of Governments (a regional planning agency) Wednesday morning to listen to Miller, Ansonia Mayor James Della Volpe, Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri talk about the shape of their cities and towns.
Miller and Staffieri had similar tales of redevelopment projects getting caught up in state red tape.
In Derby, Staffieri indicated the state’s traffic commission took a very long time to approve the entrance and exits to a large redevelopment project along Pershing Drive, where Walgreens, an Aldi’s store, and a Panera Bread are all scheduled to go. That project was also delayed by a lawsuit from the Shop Rite plaza owner across the street.
Staffieri indicated projects involving state roads seem to move extremely slow.
The widening of state Route 34 through downtown is supposed to do a lot to improve aesthetics and traffic flow in the heart of Derby.
“That’s been moving slowly. Dealing with the state, dealing with the federal government, I understand (that) things don’t move as quickly as the private sector does,” Staffieri said.
Wyman asked Staffieri to come up with a list of projects on state roads so that she could check on their statuses.
Rick Dunne, Valley COG’s executive director, asked the state to look into its regulations regarding school consolidations. Derby and Ansonia have floated the idea at various times. One past drawback, Dunne said, was the fact Ansonia would have been required to pay Derby millions.
“It makes it difficult, because typically one city has to end up paying the other,” Dunne said.
Dunne said when Ansonia previously explored merging high schools, the process stopped because state rules required Ansonia to pay some $30 million to Derby. The alternative was to build a high school in Ansonia — which was cheaper than merging with Derby.
Changing the regulations could encourage more schools to consider consolidating.
“Those were areas where the law could be altered to effect more consolidation,” Dunne said.
Dunne also stressed the problems with transportation on Route 8 and the area’s commuter railroad. While Fairfield County is called Connecticut’s economic engine, the people who feed that engine making less than $125,000 a year live in the Valley but work in Fairfield County.
“We are at the breaking point of not being able to transport those people from where they live to where they work,” Dunne said.
Della Volpe said his city is in a tough spot with several contaminated properties. It’s hard to find money to clean the properties, especially because the properties are privately owned. It’s actually easier to get government clean-up money for abandoned properties, Della Volpe and Dunne said.
In Ansonia, there are sprawling factories that once employed thousands — now they employee hundreds.
“We’ve needed to get in there, clean it up and get something in there,” Della Volpe said.
Lauretti, who is exploring a run for governor, did not offer comments for Wyman.