Seymour Annmarie Drugonis (file photo).
SEYMOUR — Residents can learn about plans for a connector road slated to be built between Route 67 in downtown Seymour and Route 42 in neighboring Beacon Falls at a public hearing next month.
The Seymour Board of Selectpersons scheduled the hearing for 6 p.m. Dec. 5 at Seymour Town Hall.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the town is hoping to secure a $16 million state grant through the Department of Economic and Community Development. Drugonis said a public hearing is required due to traffic patterns being changed with the new connector road.
“In order for us to get the funding we need to have a public hearing,” Drugonis said. “Haynes will do a presentation and Sheila O’Malley (Seymour’s economic development consultant) will do a presentation and they’ll be at the public hearing to answer questions about the project.”
Drugonis said O’Malley submitted the grant application in August. The application, however, was denied because the town didn’t hold a public hearing.
“With the grant we have to ensure the people are well aware of the project details,” Drugonis said.
O’Malley said the state Department of Transportation requested more public participation in the process, because a traffic pattern will be changing. Once the public hearing is held, both Drugonis and O’Malley said the grant application will be resubmitted to the DECD.
The town already secured a $3 million federal grant earlier this year from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to go toward building the road between downtown Seymour and Beacon Falls.
The road will open up a major development opportunity for Tom Haynes, of Haynes Construction, LLC, who, according to Seymour officials, wants to develop land behind the Seymour Stop & Shop into a multi-use development, similar to what Haynes did with Quarry Rock on Route 67 in nearby Oxford.
Drugonis said the additional $16 million would not only help with the road construction, but will also be used to build a walkway, and extend Seymour’s greenway into Beacon Falls. She said the biggest benefit to building a connector road is to alleviate the traffic in downtown Seymour, which is a nightmare at rush hour.
“The Route 67/Route 42 connector road is crucial to eliminating a lot of the traffic that is downtown,” Drugonis said. “If you try to get anywhere downtown between 4 and 7 p.m., you don’t’ go anywhere.”
Drugonis said the building project that Haynes is proposing is separate from the connector road, but once built she said it will have a lot of benefits.
“It’s not just a great opportunity for Haynes, but it will increase our Grand list, lower our mill rate and increase our tax base,” Drugonis said. “But the most important part is the traffic and the flow of downtown. It’s a bottleneck and by opening up this connector road, we’re going to eliminate the traffic jam of people trying to get on the Route 8 connector, by having them take the Route 67/Route 42 connector.”
Seymour town officials have been trying to get the access road off the ground for 20 years, seeing it as a major economic development project next to Route 8 and the Waterbury branch of Metro-North Railroad. Hayes’ land totals some 220 acres.
DeLauro said back at a June press conference held here that the Haynes project will combat a housing crisis in Connecticut.
“It’s about creating jobs, and it’s about creating market rate and affordable housing,” DeLauro said.
