NEW MILFORD The Zoning Board has unanimously approved Mayor David Gronbachs request for a special permit to convert the old John Pettibone School into a community center.

The town, as an applicant, stepped up, Zoning Vice Chair Sharon Ward said at Tuesdays meeting. They met all the regulations, so we approved it.

At previous meetings, the board required the town to add lighting in the parking lot and add a drop-off area near Route 7, which Pettibone fronts, as conditions of its approval.

After concerns about pedestrian safety on the congested road arose during earlier public hearings, the board also requested that the town build sidewalks along the entirety of Pettibones Route 7 frontage within the next five years.

For now, however, the board required only the installation of a small walkway from a Route 7 bus stop to a paved waiting area and to the community center for the safety of HARTransit bus riders visiting Pettibone.

Zoning commissioners also asked the town to request that HARTransit buses drop off and pick up riders at the school itself.

Sidewalks along the Route 7 are not required by zoning regulations, Ward said, but the board strongly urges all Route 7 applicants to install them for pedestrian safety.

The town asked for five years to complete the project, so it can obtain grant money for the sidewalk, Ward added.

The town has been working for months to renovate the building, and town agencies including the Parks and Recreation and Social Services departments, along with the town Youth Agency, are expected to move in.

With the Zoning Boards earlier outdoor-lighting request accounted for, all renovations will cost the town $380,000, which Gronbach has pulled from the Waste Management Fund.

blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton

Read more from the original source:
Zoning approves Pettibone renovations - Danbury News Times

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