Looking back on 2022, it was a busy year for WECA with volunteers organizing fun and impactful events. We were active both as a civic association, bringing the community together, and as a neighborhood revitalization zone speaking on behalf of residents on issues at the City level. Our volunteers also did quite a bit of work out of the public eye. Some was internal efforts to help the Association run smoothly, while other work was for the benefit of the community that we live in and serve.
Metro Hartford Rapid Routes has been studying the ridership and service level of the CT Transit bus services along priority corridors in the region. The West End is included in the Farmington Avenue corridor, which links Downtown Hartford with West Hartford Center.
The goal of the study is to identify opportunities to improve the bus service by making it more efficient and more comfortable for riders. The study proposed a number of improvements to the physical infrastructure and the routes. In the West End the improvements take the form of fewer stops, and more amenities for riders at the stops that remain.
The study began by evaluating existing conditions along each route. Below are the findings for the Farmington Avenue corridor.
The study found that all five of the stops in the West End were well-used. The size of the circles in the chart represents the number of people per day who board the system at a particular stop. Since the font is rather small, I’ll note that 173 people boarded the bus per day at KFC (the 4th highest on the route, and the highest outside of Downtown Hartford), 115/day at Denison, 99/day at Whitney, and just under 99/day at both Oxford and Prospect. CT Transit is a popular service in the West End!
The current proposal for the Farmington Avenue corridor can be seen below.
Again, because the font is small, I’ll summarize what the schematic shows. There will be “Enhanced” stops for inbound riders at Prospect, and at Whitney. There will be a “Signature” stop for inbound riders at Denison. There will corresponding outbound stops at Denison, Whitney, and Prospect that will all be “Regular.” The stops at KFC/Girard and Oxford are eliminated.
Below are two figures showing the amenities associated with the different categories of stops.
Despite the investment in better quality stops, the reduction in the number of stops seems like a reduction in service quality for the West End.
Please consider submitting comments on the proposal to share your views. Comments can be emailed to info@metrohartfordrapidroutes.com.
The public comment period ends at the City’s Planning & Zoning Meeting on Tuesday, January 11th, 2022 for the zoning application at 510 Farmington Avenue requesting the approval of a Special Permit and Site Plan for a Restaurant with a Drive Through.
This link takes you to the meeting page, where the City published the agenda, the virtual meeting link, the Staff Report on the project, and the full application.
If you have an opinion about the adding a drive through use to this site, then please consider submitting comments to the Planning & Zoning Commission. WECA opposes the proposal, and has submitted a position to the Commission.
You can speak to the Commission directly at the meeting when they ask the audience if anyone would like to speak. Link to join the 6:00p meeting on WebEx.
You can also send written comments in advance. Comments should be sent to oneplan@hartford.gov and should be sent before 4:00p to give staff time to receive and process them.
Or, you can both submit written comments and speak in person.
510 Farmington Avenue is the vacant lot at the corner of Girard Avenue on which a McDonald’s was proposed years ago. The owner and City litigated the legal uses of the site, with the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling in 2021 that Zoning Regulations from 2012 must be applied due to process errors by the City. The owner resubmitted their prior proposal to construct a McDonald’s at the site, and appears to be using that application as a placeholder to secure the Special Permit for the drive through use.
WECA held a meeting on June 23, 2021 that gathered community input on potential uses of the 510 Farmington site. The meeting minutes noted that “Numerous attendees emphasized that the work to improve the pedestrian environment on Farmington Avenue continues to be important to them and is still not complete. They strongly opposed adding a drive-thru on Farmington Avenue.”
Conversations about the site, related to both a potential drive through restaurant and a food truck park proposal have focused on the impact of traffic changes on both Girard Avenue and on the intersection of Girard and Farmington. Some residents were concerned about Girard being used as a cut-thru street to access the site. Even more residents were concerned about the safety of the unsignaled intersection of Girard with Farmington, which is already difficult to navigate at current traffic loads.
Going back further, the One City One Plan document, which was the City’s official Plan of Conservation and Development document initially issued on June 3, 2010, included numerous goals for the West End neighborhood. Section 13 includes two West End goals that are specifically relevant to this application.
One is to “Complete implementation of the Farmington Avenue streetscape to Prospect Avenue.” The streetscape project is an effort to make Farmington Avenue safer and more welcoming to non-vehicle traffic. Adding a drive through restaurant works against this goal.
The other goal is to “Rezone B3 and B4 West End commercial districts into a new Neighborhood Business Zone.” This goal was the West End’s position specifically related to drive through restaurants on Farmington Avenue. The community wanted to move the business district in a direction that favored pedestrians and away from favoring vehicles. The new zone that the West End wanted implemented prohibited new drive through restaurants as one of the key terms.
The City of Hartford Planning Department oversees multiple commissions related to land use in the City. They currently have openings on their commissions that they are interested in filling.
Planning and Zoning Commission
1 vacant position for a full Commissioner – can be a Democrat.
Historic Preservation Commission
1 vacant position for an alternate Commissioner – can be a Democrat.
Zoning Board of Appeals
1 vacant position for a full Commissioner – must be from a minority party or non-affiliated;
1 vacant position for an alternate Commissioner – can be a Democrat.
Please submit resumes to oneplan@hartford.gov if interested in applying.
