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When completed three years from now, the development in the Georgetown section of Redding, Conn., is expected to increase the population of the largely rural town by 10%, or 1,200 residents, adding 416 housing units. Small portions of the property are within the neighboring towns of Wilton and Weston.
The project, dubbed simply Georgetown, will have 300,000 sq ft of commercial space in 20 to 25 buildings of up to four stories, with many having restaurants and retail on ground floors topped by offices and condominiums on upper floors. It will also have a performing arts center, a police station, a 40,000-sq-ft satellite facility for the Wilton YMCA, a 600-space parking garage, and a new Metro-North Railroad station that will connect the new pedestrian-friendly community to New York and the rest of Fairfield County.
The project won unanimous approval from both the town’s zoning and planning commissions, thanks in part to the developer’s commitment to features such as green and energy-efficient design and to so-called “smart-growth” planning spurred by the antisprawl New Urbanism movement. The project is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold-level certification, and is applying to become one of the first projects in the country to be certified as an overall LEED neighborhood development.
The project, dubbed simply Georgetown, will have 300,000 sq ft of commercial space in 20 to 25 buildings of up to four stories, with many having restaurants and retail on ground floors topped by offices and condominiums on upper floors. It will also have a performing arts center, a police station, a 40,000-sq-ft satellite facility for the Wilton YMCA, a 600-space parking garage, and a new Metro-North Railroad station that will connect the new pedestrian-friendly community to New York and the rest of Fairfield County.
The project won unanimous approval from both the town’s zoning and planning commissions, thanks in part to the developer’s commitment to features such as green and energy-efficient design and to so-called “smart-growth” planning spurred by the antisprawl New Urbanism movement. The project is seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold-level certification, and is applying to become one of the first projects in the country to be certified as an overall LEED neighborhood development.
newyork.construction.com/features/archive/2007/07_feature4.asp
If a project like this can get approval in a small, quiet town in Fairfield County I feel some hope about similar projects taking off in other parts of Connecticut.
I'm also very impressed with the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials. If you check out their website you will find that they are very pro-transit. They have done a number of studies on towns along the Danbury branch of metro-north and they have some interesting recommendations.
www.hvceo.org/transport/transport.php
This leads me to the question....is there a similar council advocating transit oriented projects along the New Haven/Hartford/Springfield line, the Waterbury branch of metro-north, or Shore line East?????
