Feb. 2 -- In a rare joint meeting in a crowded Town Hall Annex Conference Room, the Board of Selectmen and the Planning and Zoning Commission met with representatives of the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce to discuss the future development of Route 7. The catalyst for the meeting was a request from Congressman Jim Maloney for the Federal Dept. of Transportation to conduct a "Major Investment Study."
State and Federal regulations require such a study prior to the construction or expansion of major highways, but the State has neglected to accomplish the required study despite their published plans to widen Route 7 in Ridgefield and extend Super 7 northward in Wilton.
Gary Smith of Ridgefield Bank spoke on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce, seeking support from the Town for this study. "You may oppose the findings once the study is completed," he noted, "but we all would benefit from a comprehensive study that took a look at the transportation needs of the entire region, not just the town of Ridgefield."
Mike Autori and John Katz disagreed strenuously. Expansion of Route 7 already has been a disaster for those areas in which it occurred, Mr. Autori argued, citing routes where older local roads parallel new limited access highways. His two most prominent examples were the ugly strip development on Federal Road in Danbury and the devastation on Rt. 1 where it is paralleled by I-95. High-speed limited access roads encourage the "cancer of urban sprawl," he said, which is completely unsuited to the village of Ridgefield as it is today and should remain for the future.
Eloquent John Katz also tackled the Chamber's proposal, suggesting that the problem is not a lack of roadways but an inefficient use of those roads. If businesses were willing to "balance their workday" and have people working at different hours of the day and on different days of the week, much of the congestion seen at 8:30 am and 5:30 at night would be minimized, he suggested. An unwillingness to tackle this paradigm reflects old-style thinking by businesses that does not reflect the new service-oriented, knowledge-intensive, Internet-based digital economy that is sweeping over the country.
Mr. Smith agreed that rush-hour congestion is a problem, but calmly noted that it is beyond the powers of the Chamber of Commerce to change the working hours of millions of Americans. He was supported by real estate maven Mike Ryer, who said "We already have lost the Ridgefield that we loved. Main Street traffic is a terrible burden, and Ridgebury Road is overwhelmed... This study will help us develop regional answers to the questions of regional economic development." Mr. Katz replied that he doubted any transportation agency would fund research that would reach any conclusion except that additional highways are required.
Speaking personally, but as a member of P&Z who has spear-headed the drive to conclude the Town's Master Plan, Commissioner Di Masters concluded the study would not be beneficial. "The Connecticut Dept. of Transportation is a scary bunch of people," she said. "Their answers are always big and ugly and filled with cement. Their answers are not in concert with our picture of Ridgefield."
At the close of the meeting, P&Z Commissioner David Woods asked for a list of criteria for the study, and the three groups developed such a list including time-lines, resource requirements and the span of the research. Mr. Smith agreed to go back to the Dept. of Transportation, obtain the answers to those questions, and if those answers are satisfactory to seek endorsement from the Boards for the study so it would receive Federal funding.
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