FARMINGTON – About 12 people attended two public hearings by selectmen Tuesday night to discuss revisions to the Comprehensive Plan and a grant to improve Church and Coney streets.
Town Manager Richard Davis described the revisions Comprehensive Plan Improvement Committee members have made so far as an attempt to “bring (the plan) into compliance” with state specifications and to provide Farmington with “some mechanism to allow for the presence of open space to keep working farms and our rural character.”
Townspeople must vote to accept the revisions at town meeting, he added.
Committee members Herb York and Sally Speich, and former Farmington Budget Committee member Bill Crandall were concerned about some of the wording in the revisions, notably one section dealing with the prevention of sprawl. While no one attending disagreed with the committee’s plan to discourage sprawl in Farmington, York and Crandall worried that including words such as “prevent” in the comprehensive plan might someday lead to unfair restrictions on landowners.
During the public hearing to discuss proposed work on Church and Coney streets, Davis explained selectmen want to apply for a grant that, if won, would give the town up to $150,000 to refurbish the streets, build sidewalks, and add about five parking spaces to the crowded downtown. Most of the hearing’s commentary focused on the selectmen’s plan to make Church Street one way.
Selectmen and attendees had an intense discussion about whether traffic should be allowed from Main Street to High Street, or from High to Main. No agreement was reached, but most of the people who spoke were in favor of routing traffic from Main to High street, mostly to allow truck and commercial traffic easy access to parking and loading docks from Main Street.
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