Rilling offers to meet with concerned Norwalk residents before ‘Don’t Block the Box’ moves forward

NORWALK, Conn. – Neighbors of a proposed traffic alteration will have a chance to meet with Norwalk officials before the matter continues to move forward through city government.

Olmstead Place and Knickerbocker Avenue residents made a strong showing at Wednesday’s Mayor’s Night Out to voice their concerns about the “Don’t Block the Box” proposed for East Avenue at Interstate 95’s northbound Exit 16 and the proposed restriction of left turns from the only way out of their neighborhood during peak periods – like when they need to go to the East Norwalk train station to get to work in the morning. Mayor Harry Rilling told them in return that he also thinks that’s illogical, and promised an informational discussion.

“I think Don’t Block the Box is a great idea but I don’t see why our neighborhood should be penalized to make us turn right,” said Olmstead Place resident Bob Cole.

“I don’t believe that the no-left-hand-turn during the high peak hours is the right way to go either,” Rilling replied. “It flies in face of the reason for having Don’t Block the Box.”

Up to 15 residents of the small neighborhood attended the meeting. “This is a pretty important thing for people to come out tonight,” said Diane Cece, who did most of the talking for the group.

The Norwalk Traffic Authority authorized the Don’t Block the Box on Feb. 2, during a snow emergency called by Rilling. Cece said she checked the meeting agendas on the city website that afternoon but didn’t look at the Traffic Authority agenda because it was snowing and City Hall was closing.

“Rightfully or wrongfully I assumed that all of the meetings were postponed because that’s typically what happens,” she said.

Later, she was “startled that they were actually looking to approve something like this for Olmstead Avenue.” No one had reached out to residents, a surprise given the magnitude with which it would affect the neighborhood, she said.

“Every city official at this table has my home phone number,” said Cece, a vocal activist. “I don’t think it would have been hard to reach out to the one resident that you know.”

Parents trying to take their children to Marvin Elementary School in the morning would be affected by the left turn restriction and property values will be affected, she said.

The Traffic Authority’s desire for a Don’t Block the Block cannot be fulfilled without a new ordinance written by the Common Council Ordinance Committee. That will include a public hearing.

“Many of you know that by the time it gets to a public hearing these things very often are done deal, and really there’s no feedback from the community at that time,” Cece said.

Don’t Block the Box “could be a very good thing for us or it could be the very worst thing that could happen to us but in the absence of you talking to us we don’t know. The no-left-turn we think is a nonstarter, though, because that will so impact our life there and the quality of life there that we think that has to be taken off the table right away,” Cece said.

Cece said she had asked Ordinance Committee Chairwoman Shannon O’Toole Giandurco (R-District D) to table the request or send it back to the Traffic Authority because once the ordinance is passed the measure will be a done deal.

Rilling said it would come back to the Traffic Authority to iron out the specifics of the Don’t Block the Box.

Department of Public Works Principal Engineer Dick Linnartz said that state regulations require than an ordinance be written for specific intersections, that having an ordinance does not automatically mean such a measure would pop up all over the city.

“Even more of a reason to hit the little pause button,” Cece said.

“The prime motivation here is the Exit 16 area,” Linnartz said. “Olmstead is an extension of that but it’s not the prime reason for doing the work.”

Cece and another woman who lives in the neighborhood said there might be an alternative to Don’t Block the Box.

“I have been most impressed with your creative use of traffic lights,” the woman said. “I would like to see some of that creativity applied to this situation as opposed to very rigid solutions.”

Cole said he needs to get to the train station in the morning.

“If we are forced to turn right it’s going to put more traffic on East Avenue, it’s going to create more traffic in more places,” Cole said. “There’s certainly congestion issues on the other side of 95. I don’t know how that would work at all, first of all. As a safety issue, one point I would like to bring up, coming off of 95 going north it’s a right on red… a lot of people come very fast off of there. They are used to driving fast.”

Rilling said all of the neighbors would be invited to a meeting where the reasons behind the Don’t Block the Box would be explained, and the alternative ideas discussed.

O’Toole Giandurco said she would attend. “As anybody can see from my work as a chairman nothing moves to public hearing without it being discussed,” she said.

DPW usually drafts agendas for Traffic Authority meetings.

“Perhaps you weren’t notified because it was just the initial stage before passing it on to the Ordinance Committee for their consideration,” Rilling said. “With the fact that the statute requires public hearings they probably figured OK, once we get this in place and ready to move forward we’ll have the public hearing, we’ll notify the neighbors. So I think it’s just a matter of the chronology order of things, how they happened.”