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Road Worriers
Orange probes prospects of revitalizing Post Road
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Business New Haven
9/18/2000
By: Linda G. Mele
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Members of the Orange Chamber of Commerce met September 12 with members of the Bipartisan Committee to Study Commercial Uses of the Boston Post Road formed by First Selectman Mitchell Goldblatt.
“When Shaw's closed and Sear's left to go to Milford, I decided we needed to find out how to attract new businesses to town and keep the ones we already have,” Goldblatt explains.
“While Marsh Hill Road is a viable area for development, we can't forget the Boston Post Road. We don't have the answers yet, but we will,” Goldblatt adds.
Committee chairman Patricia Pearson, who is also a selectwoman, outlined the committee's objectives:
• To develop a comprehensive vision to optimize the potential of the Boston Post Road for the town of Orange and recommend steps that need to be taken by municipal, commercial and community groups.
• The study area will include all properties on the entire length of the Post Road from the West Haven line to the Milford border.
• Special emphasis will be placed on the area east of Bull Hill Lane, where recommendations from the committee should be implemented first.
Pearson says the work is expected to take about a year to complete.
“We hope the plan we develop will work not only on paper, but on the pavement, too,” Pearson says.
Former selectman Laura Reid facilitated the meeting, at which everyone present provided input about the town's strengths and weaknesses, the kinds of businesses people would like to see in town and how the town could attract new businesses and retain the ones already there.
Everyone agreed that one of the major weaknesses that needs to be addressed is the heavy traffic on the Boston Post Road.
Michelle Collins, publisher of the Our Town newspaper, says it's “both a blessing and a curse.”
“If you live here, you know how to drive the Post Road,” Collins says. “You know what shortcuts to take to get around.”
Other weaknesses include absentee business owners, the fact that many Orange residents don't patronize Orange businesses and an aging population.
“We need local developers/property owners who care about what's going on with their properties,” Collins says.
Strengths include low taxes, its combination of rural and suburban living, more than adequate parking, the town's location and access to I-95, Route 34 and the Merritt Parkway (Route 15), the friendliness and helpfulness of town employees and the school system.
Attendees concurred that the town should try to attract upscale stores like Talbot's, Ikea and Restoration Hardware, as well as a first-class hotel, biotech firms and restaurants. Some thought that Orange should capitalize on being the “furniture mecca of the Northeast” because so many furniture stores are located on the Post Road.
“What we need to do is hire a top-level marketer on an incentive basis to fill up the empty spaces,” says CPA Michael Paolini, who also chairs the Town Plan & Zone Commission.
Since there's been a high turnover of businesses on the Boston Post Road near the West Haven line, Collins suggests building office condominiums in that area and perhaps permitting some light industry to locate there, too.
Business owner Louis Gherlone says the perception of Orange “isn't always good.”
“I've talked to developers all over the country,” Gherlone says, “and they admit Orange's demographics are good, but then say, 'Look at what happened to Stew Leonard.'”
Gherlone was referring to the long, drawn out application process Leonard went through when he wanted to locate one of his dairy stores on Marsh Hill Road near Exit 41 off I-95 - and was denied.
“Everybody has heard about that,” Gherlone says.
Gherlone also says the Connecticut Post Mall pulls customers away from businesses on the Post Road and if the new mall in New Haven is built, “it will suck businesses on the Post Road dry.”
Reid says the committee will address the weaknesses and discuss ways to capitalize on the strengths in order to come up with a plan.
Paolini says the TPCZ is working on regulations to address blighted properties and empty buildings on the Boston Post Road. Reid pointed out the six state DOT and local road projects in the works that will help address the traffic problems.
In addition, Reid says there has been some interest in the former Sear's and Shaw's stores, the owners of the DIP-TOP Plaza plan to rebuild after a fire destroyed much of it, and Staples is planning to move from West Haven and occupy the old Sear's Automotive store.
“We need to decide what makes sense for the Post Road,” Goldblatt says, “and whether we're going to embark on an aggressive marketing campaign or sit back and wait until something happens, the way we always have.”
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