Minutes of the regular meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners held on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 in the Lower Conference Room, 3 Main Street, Newtown, CT. Chairman Mattegat called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: C. Mattegat, G. Finnegan, D. Giannini, R. Connor. ABSENT:. R. Simon. ALSO PRESENT: Chief Kehoe, Captain Rios, fourteen members of public, one member of press.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Joseph Borst, 10 Beechwood Drive, Sandy Hook, is concerned about the impact on traffic of the proposed development on Church Hill Road. A DOT report from 1999 indicated that 11,000 vehicles traveled Church Hill Road from Exit 10 on I-84 to Sandy Hook Center. HVCEO had figures of 12,400 for 2004. He is a part-time bus driver in Newtown. He said that students are not allowed to cross Church Hill Road and that buses would have to stop on the uphill side which would cause problems.
Morgen McLaughlin, 14 Albert’s Hill Road, requested that the traffic study from 2005 be updated to show a true traffic count. Perhaps Riverview could be used for comparison.
Megan Williams, 82 Church Hill Road, said that The Bee reported on April 4, 2002 that the DOT said that Church Hill Road is the highest traffic accident location in the State. She feels that the traffic from 23 units will have a negative impact and that school buses will add to the congestion.
Mary Ann O’Donnell, 97 Church Hill Road, agrees. She has to wait 3-5 minutes to get out of her driveway. How did Mr. Dauti go from 12 units to 23?
Bill Jensen, 171 Jennifer Lane, lives in Walnut Tree Village. He said it is difficult to get out of Walnut Tree Hill Road and it can take him 15-20 minutes. He is a firefighter and is concerned with the width of the road and only one access to the site.
Mr. Borst said that he has not seen a traffic counter on Church Hill Road.
Ms. O’Donnell said it takes her 10 minutes to go to her job at the High School, which should take 3 minutes.
MINUTES. Upon motion of Mr. Connor, the minutes of March 7, 2006 and the addendum were unanimously approved as presented.
CHIEF’S ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT (March, 2006). Overtime is within the monthly goal. Budget balances will be discussed later under “Transfers.” GL Accounts were unremarkable. Fleet is status quo. Personnel two new hires are doing an excellent job at the Academy. Officer Richter is doing well in phase III of field training. Hiring process is ongoing; written, Cooper’s and interviews have been done. Target date for hiring is May 12.Training was in the report. Use of Force Training was conducted. One Letter of appreciation was received. Captain Rios is working on the problem of ATV’s on the D’Addario property. A meeting was held with Mr. Hilario, DOT and the Zoning Enforcement Officer concerning illegal parking and Chief
Kehoe does not expect any problems in the future. Command Vehicle options are being explored. Awards and Decorations ceremony will be held on May 25 at 6:00 p.m. at The Fireside. A meeting concerning underage drinking will be held on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall.
CAPTAIN’S OPERATIONAL REPORT (March, 2006) included Motor Vehicle Activity Report, DUI Report, Monthly Calls for Service and Detective Division Report.~The DEP will work with the Department to enforce laws concerning ATV’s. There will be additional traffic enforcement concerning radar, cross walks, DUI, seat belts and cell phone spot checks. Chief Kehoe said that overtime funds may be needed to staff these programs.
OLD BUSINESS.
Application for Edona Commons Residential Development, Church Hill Road. Don Tone from Frederick P. Clark Associates discussed the revised traffic study dated June 8, 2005 with were expanded by a growth rate of 2% to reflect 2006 traffic conditions. For the 23 units, 16 vehicle trips were projected for the morning hour peak and 18 during the evening peak hour. The traffic will not create a significant impact to the level of service. The driveway had adequate site lines. The site has Level C service, Walnut Tree Hill Road has Level F. He said that the majority of vehicles would make a right turn from the site during the a.m. peak and a left turn during the evening peak comparable to Walnut Tree Hill Road. Commissioner Finnegan does not think this comparison is valid. Chairman Mattegat said that Superintendent
Pitkoff said that school buses will not be allowed in the condos and there is now a bus stop on the north side of Church Hill Road between Walnut Tree Hill Road and the condo site. Commissioner Finnegan would like a sensor count because he feels that projection for 16-18 trips is flawed. Mr. Tone said the projection is for .7 to .8 vehicles per unit during the peak hour. Chief Kehoe noted that the speed limit in the traffic study is listed as 35 mph but is 35 mph going east and 30 mph going west. He would like to see a count from 6-9 a.m. rather than 7-9 a.m. and would like the Sandy Hook Center intersection included. Mr. McKain said that his client desires a sidewalk to the site. Chief Kehoe said that cars can park on Church Hill Road in front of houses where the width of the road is adequate.
Mrs. Williams said that during the week of March 20 there was an accident between Exits 10 and 9 that resulted in people getting off at Exit 11 and going up Church Hill Road with traffic stopped on Church Hill Road from 7-9 a.m. She said there are eight children on the north side of Church Hill Road. When the Farmer’s Market is open in the summer there is more traffic.
Ms. O’Donnell asked if the high school expansion has been considered. Her child has to walk to Dayton Street for the bus. She would like to know the noise level of the traffic there. She thinks the traffic count is wrong and would like a copy of the case studies
Betty Lincoln, Echo Valley Road, said that in the winter the sun is on your windshield when you are going up Church Hill Road. When Oakview is developed there will be more congestion at the Sandy Hook intersection.
Commissioner Finnegan said that a two land drive to provide access for emergency vehicles could get blocked by piles of snow. Mr. McKain said that a plan to stockpile snow could be implemented. He said that the Board of Ed could be asked to have a school bus stop at the end of the street. Commissioner Giannini said that we are trying to avoid additional capacity that the area cannot handle. Commissioner Giannini moved to request more information on the impact of traffic in the area with a new traffic study and the Commission is concerned with the fact that there is not an access for emergency vehicles and would like to see alternatives. Second by Commissioner Finnegan and unanimously carried.
Application for amendment to a special exception, 12-16 Pocono Road. Bashert Developers partners Alan Litt and Burt Dorfman presented the project. Mr. Dorfman noted that the project has the same number of units previously approved by the Commission for The Homesteads. There is an access for emergency vehicles that will be maintained. Chairman Mattegat asked if the road could be widened. Mr. Litt said that this cannot be done because of the wetlands and there is a conservation easement along the driveway. Mr. Litt said the road is fourteen feet wide and can accommodate any vehicle. Commissioner Giannini moved to accept the consideration for this proposal, second by Commissioner Finnegan and unanimously carried.
Commissioner Giannini moved to add to the agenda Application for a special exception, 182 South Main Street. Second by Commissioner Finnegan and unanimously carried. Jim Bubaris of Bubaris Traffic Associates asked that the Commission reconsider its decision to not allow a left turn onto Route 25 from the site. He said that hourly traffic counts were conducted for four days from Friday through Monday during the Friday 4-6 p.m. peak and Saturday during the 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. peak which showed 27 trips including into and out of the site. Traffic is Level E on Friday and Level D on Saturday with an average ½ minute delay. Mr. Bubaris said there is adequate sight line both ways for average 50 mph. He said that the DOT shows no accident history for January 2002 through December 2004 but Captain Rios said that
the DOT only keeps records of accidents costing at least $1,000 and Mr. Bubaris should contact the Newtown Police Department to obtain complete information. He said that making a left turn has not been a problem for the business. Mr. Swan said that since 1989 there has been one accident at the site. He said that people go right and make a U turn down the road or turn around at Sand Hill Plaza. He is designing his parking lot to get tractor trailers off Route 25 as fast as possible. Commissioner Finnegan moved to allow left turns going north onto Route 25 to be reviewed one year after a Certificate of Occupancy is received with a traffic study and accident history including accident history from the Newtown Police Department. Second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried.
Review and discussion on the intersection of Walnut Tree Hill Road and Haley Road. Chief Kehoe said that Town Engineer Ron Bolmer will be presenting an engineering solution.
Transfers. Commissioner Giannini moved to transfer $1,000 from Account 01310-1003 to Account 01310-2026. Second by Commissioner Finnegan and unanimously carried. Commissioner Finnegan moved to transfer $4,000 from Account 01310-1003 to Account 01310-2015. Second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried. Commission Finnegan moved to increase Revenue Account 002-0116 and Account 01315-1008 by $50,000. Second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried.
Policy and Procedures.
Commissioner Finnegan moved to adopt Policies and Procedures Fleet Operations (Revised)- #7-1, In the Operation of Police Vehicles (Revised)-#7-4, Ride-Along (New)- #7-14, Training (New)- #1-24, Prisoner Holding (Revised)- #2-1, Report Writing (Revised)- #4-3, Private Duty (New)- # 8-20, Criminal Investigations (Revised)- #5-0. Second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried.
Conditional offers to candidates for Probationary Police Officer. Commissioner Finnegan moved to offer conditional offers to the following candidates for probationary police officers: Edmond Hannigan, Jason Lageman, Michael Weglarz, Ken Jacovino, William Allen, Adam Cleary, Lawrence Castelot, Frank Razzaia, Geoffrey Bartlett, Christopher Carroll, Christine Sinko, Anthony Capezzali, Kevin Pink, Todd Dingee and Andrew Tyszka, second by Commissioner Giannini and unanimously carried.
Commissioner’s Participation (next agenda). None noted.
Executive Session. Commissioner Connor moved to enter executive session at 10:15 p.m. to discuss contract negotiations and to invite Chief Kehoe and Captain Rios to attend, second by Commission Finnegan and unanimously carried. At this time the clerk left the meeting.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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