By Marianne Sullivan, Source Senior Staff
Writer:
“We have succeeded
in saving one of the town’s most important assets,” Christine Poutot told the
Board of Selectmen last week.
The town has
received written notification from the state Department of Transportation that
a 2.3 mile section of the Boston
Post Road, from the intersection of Neck Road east to
the intersection with Lovers Lane,
has been designated as a scenic road.
Poutot, chair of the
Planning and Zoning Commission, said one of the commission’s advisory boards,
the Town Plan Advisory Committee, had been working to gain the scenic road
designation since 2002.
“In November of 2005
the committee mailed all the necessary information to the state DOT and has been
staying in touch with DOT on a regular basis. It’s been a long time coming,”
she said.
Since legislation
was passed in 1987, state organizations and municipalities have sought to
designate roads or portions of roads as scenic. The designation encourages sightseeing
along the roads and, importantly, helps to preserve them from modifications
that would detract from their appearance.
The legislation
authorizes the state commissioner of transportation to designate state
highways, or portions of highways, as scenic roads in consultation with the
state commissioners of environmental protection and economic and community
development.
“A scenic road is
defined as any state highway that: 1) passes through agricultural land or abuts
land on which is located a historic building or structure listed on the
National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places;
or 2) affords vistas of marshes, shorelines, forests with mature trees or
notable geologic or other natural features. The scenic road designation means
that any further alteration or improvement on that section will maintain the
character of the road,” the legislation states.
Selectman Joseph
MacDougald, former chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, explained,
“This also helps us to maintain the median divider on our main street, a
characteristic that is important to our downtown.” He also complimented Poutot
on her years of work in attempting to move the state DOT forward on this
application.
Poutot thanked all
the members of the TPAC and Planning and Zoning member Ron Clark.
“We had a verbal
approval from DOT but nothing in writing,” Poutot said. “Ron Clark offered to
contact DOT. I don’t think he realized what he was getting into, but now we
have this in a letter and it is an important step for Madison.”
She reminded the
selectmen that in the past several years a Historic District Commission has
been formed and a historic district approved.
“The Planning and
Zoning Commission has had a policy of no commercial creep along the Boston Post Road.
We also now have a village design district,” she said. “These are all further
protections for maintaining Madison
and its character.”
TPAC had originally
sought to apply the scenic road designation to the Boston Post Road from the Hammonasset Connector
to the Guilford
town line. However, the state’s Scenic Road Advisory Committee said, “After
careful consideration, the committee found that the remaining proposed
sections…did not possess continuous characteristics of a scenic road.”
The letter added,
“Much of Connecticut’s rich and diverse landscape is experienced from the
state’s network of roads, and scenic road designations recognize and help
preserve our special corridors. The newly designated section of Route 1 is a
distinctive contribution to Connecticut’s
scenic roads.”