KATHLEEN F. MUNROE

P.O. BOX 440

17 TOWN BRIDGE ROAD

COLLINSVILLE, CONNECTICUT 06022

Cheshire Planning & Zoning Commission

Cheshire Town Hall

84 South Main St.

Cheshire, CT 06410

RE: Consideration of Change to Plan of Development

Dear Commissioners:

As a resident of Canton, I have taken a heightened interest in smart growth issues since the construction of The Shoppes of Farmington Valley, a mall that has changed the landscape and character of my town. The potential that a similar development may be considered for the north end of Cheshire draws my particular attention because Cheshire is my hometown. I grew up on Curve Hill Road, attended Chapman and Dodd schools, and graduated from Cheshire High. Although Canton is smaller in population than today’s Cheshire, there are many similarities in the attributes of the two towns that make each a desirable place to live, including a sense of community and a dedication to heritage that resists irresponsible development in the face of unsupportable promises of short-term gain. Given my unique position of familiarity with both Canton and Cheshire, I urge the Commission to be wary of making a change to the town’s Plan of Development, particularly with respect to the potential construction of a so-called “life-style center” that is being proposed by W/S Development (S.R. Weiner), the developer that built the “Shoppes” in Canton.

The expression “everything old is new again” could not be more appropriate when considering today’s eruption of “life style centers,” the euphemism that developers have coined to avoid the negative connotations of a “mall.” Make no mistake about it. These “lifestyle centers” are nothing more than malls. Ours in Canton consists of a small, cramped faux “Main St.” filled with the usual chain stores that deluge our mailboxes with their catalogues: Talbots, Coldwater Creek, Chico’s, Ann Taylor, Sur La Table (a Seattle-based version of Williams-Sonoma), Old Navy and Barnes & Noble. This “Main St.” is the photograph that S.R. Weiner shows at its sales presentations. There is nothing wrong with these stores, but they are ubitiquous, and their merchandise is readily available. Surrounding these specialty stores are big boxes: Kohl’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and a huge Shaw’s supermarket. These establishments do not appear in the S. R. Weiner sales pitches. The entire development sits within vast asphalt parking lots and is surrounded by cheap plastic picket fencing that doesn’t mask the dumpsters and rear entrances that face the highway, Route 44.

As in Cheshire, Canton was promised “West Hartford Center.” Everyone loves West Hartford Center, and for good reason. It is a true town center, full of locally-owned specialty shops and restaurants, the Town Hall and professional offices, with single-family homes and apartments within easy walking distance. We also have a town center in Canton, the village of Collinsville, where many in town are dedicated to bringing about the restoration and mixed-use development of the former Collins Axe Factory in order to expand our current attractions of shops, artist studios, antiques dealers, restaurants and residences. Collinsville is where people congregate, not at a shopping center clogged with traffic, much of which is generated by out-of-towners. Like the citizens of Canton, I’m sure that the people of Cheshire don’t need a mall -- on the outer boundary of the town, no less -- for a place to congregate. The only community congregating that goes on at our mall is in the frustrating back-up of traffic, especially during the last six weeks of the year when holiday shopping gridlocks Route 44 and forces the traffic to spread to residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, developers don’t want to tackle the expensive restoration of old vacant (and possibly historic) buildings when they can level the landscape and maximize their profit margins with new construction.

In its push for further development of “lifestyle centers,” S.R. Weiner presents many misconceptions about the Shoppes of Farmington Valley, including the perception that it is well-received in Canton. Notwithstanding the views of our first selectwoman, who for unknown reasons appears in S.R. Weiner’s promotional presentations, my perception is that, while the mall presents a convenient shopping alternative to Westfarms Mall to folks in Torrington, New Hartford, Winsted, etc, it is not a popular development to the taxpayers of Canton. In fact, no one wanted a mall in the first place, when the privately owned golf course that existed on the property was being sold. The family that owned the golf course originally was determined to avoid mall development, and they offered the land to the town in the late 1980’s to run as a municipal golf course. Unfortunately, the Board of Selectmen at the time deemed it too expensive and rejected the offer without even submitting the proposal to a town vote. Subsequently, the owners worked in partnership with a sports center developer to construct a training center, incorporating the golf course within the sports facilities. That proposal required a zone change, which easily passed. However, when financing for that project fell through, the zone change remained in place. Twelve years and many heated town meetings later, including those involving S.R. Weiner’s threatened abandonment of the property (after construction was underway) if the town did not buckle under to its demands for big box stores, we were stuck with the mall. The mall was, in fact, a last resort. The additional reality that it has brought no tax relief only reinforces the resentment of this project.

Another impact from the Shoppes has the sprouting of other retail developments that feed on and add to the traffic issues on Route 44. Across the street from the “Shoppes” is a new strip mall with a nail salon, a mattress store and an Oriental rug store. An additional adjacent parcel, on which Canton voters previously defeated the construction of a Target store, is slated for as-yet undefined commercial development. Down the street, on the Canton-Avon town line, Lowe’s has filed an application to build a huge store and garden center, and across the street from that, in Simsbury, a Best Buy is being built. Canton has already added to police and fire department staffing and equipment to accommodate increased demand by the mall, and there appears to be no end in sight to additional development applications. In essence, the “Shoppes” opened the proverbial barn door.

Canton’s increased development is a daily irritation to those of us who commute to work via Route 44, which is analogous to Cheshire’s Route 10. Granted, I-691 slices through the north end of Cheshire, and it may appear to some that the interstate highway will alleviate the traffic concerns of Cheshire residents. Those who believe this should spend a Saturday at the Buckland Hills malls in Manchester and South Windsor, just off I-84, where development has run amok and the state has undertaken a massive traffic study to figure out – after the fact -- how to manage the congestion. Of course, Cheshire need look no further than Wallingford to see what uncontrolled development does to a town.

It is not my place as a non-resident to recommend what Cheshire should do. However, I urge you to undertake a change to the Plan of Development only after a great deal of scrutiny. Development is not a bad thing, but in Cheshire, as in Canton, there are plenty of places that beg for restoration or renewal without taking the drastic step of forever altering a part of the town’s landscape. Undoubtedly, the principles on which the original Plan of Development was formulated still reflect the values that Cheshire residents espouse.

Sincerely,

Kathleen F. Munroe

cc. The Cheshire Herald

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