A New Vision of New Britain’s Future Development
By Editor at March 17, 2024 | 6:15 pm | Print
More restaurants, a roller skating rink, more housing and a new home for the New Britain Industrial Museum were among the ideas residents gave Monday night during the New Britain Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Visioning Workshop.
“The whole purpose on hiring Milone & MacBroom to do this whole study is to make sure New Britain capitalizes on all of the opportunities we have available around each fastrak,” Mayor Erin Stewart told the crowd of about 50 people. “The whole point of this exercise is to think and to think big. Dream big. In a perfect world if we had all the money in the world, what would you like to see done on these parcels.”
Stewart said already things are taking place around the stations especially with students.
“No idea is a bad idea. We want to know about it,” Stewart said.
The workshop explained what is happening downtown and then took ideas from residents on what they would like to see occur around areas of the CTFastrak.
The planning process, which began in January and is funded by the CT Office of Policy and management, said the principles of the TOD included looking at the areas within 1/4 mile around each bus station, the walkability of the area and the streets.
Rebecca Auger, of Milone & MacBroom said currently the areas have a challenging market for new construction. Areas of opportunity included rising rental occupancy, low land and building values, available sites and capitalizing on health care and education.
“It needs to be welcoming,” said Auger. “It needs to be the things you want to see when walking down the street.”
Mike Zuba of Milone & MacBroom said the 25-35 age range was important to the City.
“We do have some challenges. The median income is about $41,000,” Zuba said. “We have a modest job base.”
Each area was looked at individually for its pros and cons.
The East Street area has the lowest walkable area, but has strong connections to Central Connecticut State University.
The East Main Street area has a low economic base, but high industrial use. The goal there is to strengthen neighborhoods and to relocate the department of public works outside the neighborhood.
The downtown area is divided by the highway, has high vacancy rates and lacks restaurants and retail. There is space for housing as well as development and commercial housing, according to Auger.
Most residents at the meeting seemed to concentrate their ideas on areas around the downtown.
Many called for no more low income housing, more museums and theatres. A few people requested a modern visitor’s center, public restrooms and tech space. A dry cleaner, a taxi stand and pick-up area for food were also mentioned.
“There is no retail from Dunkin’ Donuts to Amato’s. They got rid of it all so there is no synergy,” said Karen Hudkins, Director of the New Britain Industrial Museum. “You need different reasons to come downtown. We need museums to get them there during the day and restaurants at night.”
“It needs to be a complete and coordinated plan,” said Resident Sharon Baretta. “There needs to be more college and regional destinations.”
“We would like to see restaurants.” said Deivone Tanksley. “If they gave us something to eat other then potpies or McDonald’s, a lot of people would take their wife downtown.”
“The key to it all is market rate residential,” said Stephen Hard. “We need people living in the downtown area who have disposable income to go the shops, to eat at the restaurants, to see the entertainment. The reason Blue Back Square is so successful is because they have people with money who live in the area and they could just walk it.”
Milone & MacBroom will next complete a market analysis, explore development incentives and consider feedback from the meeting. A public design workshop will take place in April. All are invited to attend.
