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The Road More Traveled?
It takes a ‘village' for Orange to upscale Post Road
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Business New Haven
10/29/2001
By: Linda Mele
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ORANGE - If the plan to improve the Boston Post Road (Route 1), unveiled October 15 by the Ad Hoc Committee to Study Commercial Uses of the Boston Post Road/Boston Post Road Implementation Committee, works the way committee members and town officials hope it will, Orange's section of that well-traveled roadway will be among the best on the east coast.
That, however, is one big If.
One thing that is glaringly absent from the study - and high on the wish list of this administration - is the status of a railroad super station and what the town might gain from it.
Since that project is still under review by the state's Department of Transportation (DOT) and it wouldn't be on Route 1 there was no technical need to include it. Still, it would be helpful to know how that project, the Route 1 project and these committees, corporations and commissions plan to work together toward a common goal. Widening Route 1 between the Milford/Orange and West Haven/Orange town lines needs to be accelerated, according to the study.
Since that's a state DOT project, it will get done on the state's timetable and as funds become available. The state has embarked on a renovation of Route 1 in various towns along the shoreline between its borders with Rhode Island and New York - and those municipalities want their sections of the route done quickly, too.
The state recently completed a renovation and widening of the bridge over I-95 and the road at Exit 41 (Marsh Hill Road) and is now working on the reconstruction of Marsh Hill Road to its junction at Indian River Road, where it becomes South Lambert Road.
That project will provide a five-lane road (two lanes in each direction and a center turning lane) from the Exit 41 interchange north to the Indian River Road intersection, down South Lambert Road to just north of Route 1 where the road becomes Lambert Road and the project ends.
The contract also includes a new drainage system and completion in 335 calendar days. That timetable appears realistic based on the work that's already been done and the work in progress right now.
When the total proposed widening of Route 1 in Orange will be completed, however, is up in the air.
To make the Post Road a viable commercial district that would attract the larger, upscale businesses the town wants, the study says traffic congestion must be eased and the existing properties made more attractive.
In addition, the committee suggests that, where possible, parking lots between individual parcels and/or strip shopping centers should be connected and provide access away from Route 1, which would significantly decrease traffic on the town's major commercial artery.
It also recommends that landscape projects should be coordinated to lend more of a “village” look to Route 1 and the anti-blight ordinance as well as sign and lighting regulations should be strictly enforced.
Selectwoman and committee chair Patricia Pearson explained the highlights of the study that First Selectman Mitchell Goldblatt commissioned 18 months ago.
“The committee worked long and hard to understand the dynamics of this area,” Pearson says. “The review process was very enlightening.”
According to Pearson, the report is meant to be a “working document” not one that's etched in stone.
“We've taken a very, very big step just getting to this stage,” Pearson says. “We all know that successful businesses breed other successful businesses.”
“Through their efforts,” Goldblatt says, “the town of Orange is better prepared to meet our current needs and plan for the future.”
The first thing on the committee's agenda was to get a new executive director for the OEDC, and that has been accomplished. Paul Grimmer was named to the post September 9.
Previously Grimmer was director of the Oxford Economic Development Corp. for two years, where he helped design two industrial zones around the Oxford Airport. For a decade before that he was director of community development for Shelton.
Grimmer said when the Orange opportunity came up, “I jumped at it. It's a challenge I'm looking forward to it.”
The main goal of the project is to make the Boston Post Road “an increasingly significant contributor to the tax base of the town of Orange. It “represents the primary retail and commercial corridor in Orange so it needs to be attractive, easily accessible, safe and successful.”
The study lists the town's strengths and weaknesses as well as its limitations and assets. Other suggestions in the study include:
• A focused, organized economic-development plan to attract new and retain existing businesses;
• Specific marketing ideas that will make businesses want to relocate to Orange;
• The creation of awards and recognition programs for businesses;
• Promotion of regional partnerships;
• Enhancement of the town's Web site; and
• Encourage the creation of a performing-arts center with coffee shops, small cafés and small specialty shops.
Orange Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Chaplik says he and chamber members look forward to working with the town and the various committees and commissions to breath new life into the town's commercial district.
“We are pleased to see this private/public partnership develop between these organizations,” says Ron Wallach, president of the OEDC and owner of Wallach Surgical Devices. “It bodes well for the economic viability of this community.”
Copies of the study are available for review at the OEDC office in the former library building on Orange Center Road. For learn more, call the OEDC at 203-891-1045 or the Orange chamber at 203-795-3328.
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