[East of the River]

So I was reading this earlier.
West Hartford Council Rejects Proposal To Increase Density In Center - Courant Community
CT seems to have a skewed view of development some times I think (may just be me). I always viewed West Hartford as a Large town/ Small City, so people claiming they are losing their small town feel always confuses me. Now if you look at urban planning websites there are lots of arguments over what constitutes a city, a suburb, a town etc. In CT we pretty much go buy how the governance it set up for official reasons but then have our own popular views.

While I think there are lots of ways to do bad development, this plan shot down by residents seemed reasonable. I think density in a town center is a good thing, rather then building it sprawling out, as long as there is demand for it. Really I think the best bet for larger NewEngland towns is to allow developers a lot of leeway to develop their centers while discouraging sprawling growth that takes up large swatch of New England.

I'm not saying we get rid off all zoning but I think in order for a town to grow it needs a dense area in order to support the less dense ones on it's edges. I live in Manchester and honestly I would be perfectly fine with 4 story residential going up along Main St and Broad st. I think it would help the town actually, but maybe I'm a little crazy.

[JayCT]

I do happen to think that the town was right to stop this. There is a line that towns cross with over-development and I think the locals feel this would have crossed it. I can't say I blame them. Increased density leads to more people and more traffic and can mean even more development and suddenly the nice town you lived in resembles nothing like what you moved there for. If the residents wanted high density development they would have moved to Hartford.

I laughed when you said you considered it more of a small city than a town because the locals would flog you if you said that publically. I remember during the Blue Back Square approval process which was long and contentious as best, the residents thought the 5 and 6 story building proposed were too out of scale for the town so they were basically limited to the 5 story buildings you see there today. MANY people felt that the development was not keeping in character with the small town they remembered from just a decade ago. Jay

[East of the River]

See I drive around West Hartford and I see a small dense city. Based on density per sq mile 2,675 for West Hartford, I think it really is a little city, It has traffic problems, it has a central business district, it has lots of multi family and dense single family housing. I mean it is more dense then Bristol, Middletown and Greenwich and very close to Stratford and Stamford.

I think I'm seeing how the developers are seeing it. There is demand for more urban housing but people don't want to put up with crime etc. The soloution is to take a small almost city like West Hartford and make it into a wealthier mini city. I have kind of the same issue with Newington which blocked similar developments around Cedar st. Your already a dense town and you want to draw a line I get it. But blocking someone from putting up high rent residential on parking lots seems a little silly. I live in Manchester which is seeing some population growth over the last 10 years and a lot of multifamily residential development. Honestly I'm fine with that , I live in a city (OK were technically a town) and younger people need housing why not here.

On the flip side I don't think the town should be approving huge apartments blocks in the rural sections of town to the East. But go for it in the center and denser western edges.

[JayCT]

Again I think it comes down to perception. I think it is a New England thing to think cities are bad and towns are good. Cities mean urban ills like poverty, pollution, crime, etc. Towns mean knowing your neighbors, community spirit, being able to make a difference. Connecticut residents have a very strong home-rule attitude which is why the state was divided up into 169 fiercely independent communities. Heck the state even abolished county governments because of this. West Hartford is not alone either. Go down to Fairfield or Greenwich, two similar sized towns, and you will find the same feelings. In fact, a couple of decades back Fairfield changed its zoning to reduce its future density even more and was proud to have done that. Local politicians won elections because they spearheaded the revisions. I guess it is just a different vision. Jay

[East of the River]

Yeah I guess I see it. And I'm not convinced growth is always the answer, but in the grand scheme of things I don't think it helps the state as a whole to have quite so many restrictions. We really do need some more housing in order to keep a larger percentage of young workers (more housing lower (or stable) rents) and we don't want to build out the whole state so allowing projects in the more dense areas seems to be the best answer.

In Newington they keep fighting over building residential on Industrial land, as a wealthy associate of mine put it "I may drop a factory there just to see how they like it better then some 1/4 millon dollar condo's" (he was involved in the planning stages of one project and was annoyed by the towns stubbornness and ended up pulling his potential investment.). I guess it's that most people hate change. But really when your living in a town of 50,000 or more people don't be shocked when they build apartments and office buildings.

[Stylo]

The NIMBY attitude has held back a lot of our cities from developing as they should have. New Haven is one that I've been following closely for the past 6+ years. It's starting to come together now with new development, slowly, but it took years and years and years to get past difficult local governments and start to make progress.

I guess Stamford is at the other end. In my opinion, they seem to approve anything, which has made for an architectural and planning mishmash throughout downtown and the harbor area.

[allanny13]

Along a similar subject, the developer of the downtown Darien redevelopment plan just pulled their application following P&Z difficulties with zoning amendments.

http://www.darientimes.com/75195/new...s-application/

[NewJeffCT]

The Bishop's Corner area of West Hartford is kind of a mish-mash of development that is kind of awkward and not very well designed, I think. (Like, who thought of putting a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in such a weird location - behind almost everything else? No wonder it closed...)

So, I'm thinking some WH residents are scared that the more popular and better regarded West Hartford center area could become like that.