Would Proposed Haynes-Lenox Road Connector Fit with Avon's Master Plan?

A new road Sunlight Construction pitched as part of a controversial housing cluster development proposed for Lenox Road that would connect the street with Haynes Road may align with the town of Avon's master roads plan.

For decades, the town has planned to add another emergency access point to Haynes Road, according to a letter Avon Volunteer Fire Chief Michael Trick wrote to town planning officials. Right now the only entrance is West Avon Road.

Haynes Road was built in the 1960s. There is a paved road stub that the town of Avon owns near 213 Haynes Road that was intended for a possible connector road some day, according to Avon Town Planner Steve Kushner.

The town of Avon has a long-range plan for road circulation that was first drafted in 1968. The Avon Planning and Zoning commission reviews it every 10 years or so. It was last updated in 2006 and the commission will look over the long-range plan again in 2016.  

Avon has different types of roads  – limited local roads being the smallest with dead ends and no more than 20 homes; local roads like most of the roads in town, including Haynes and Lenox Roads; collector roads like Hollister Drive that connect major roadways; and arterial roads like West Avon Road and other state roads that carry the most traffic.  

Sunlight Construction's plan includes connecting Haynes to Lenox Road with a new public road called Stratfordshire Ridge. The proposal also includes Southhampton Lane, a private road near the close cluster of houses, and Northhampton Ridge, a public limited local road with a cul-de-sac and three lots. 
 
Since Avon cannot build roads without owning the land, most local roads constructed in the last 50 years were built by developers as part of their building plans.

Robert Parker, the nephew of former commission member Doug Thompson whose family Thompson Road is named after, owns the 45 acres of land where Bill Ferrigno Sunlight Construction wants to build the 39-lot Lenox Road housing cluster. Thompson deeded the property to his nephew.

Thompson also owns undeveloped land with frontage on Hollister Drive. Anticipating that it will be developed someday, the commission has asked Ferrigno to consider adding a road loop in his plans to provide access to the property and make way for a possible connection to Hollister in the future, Kushner said. 

Haynes Road was not built to be a cut-thru like Hollister Drive has become between Routes 177 (Lovely Street) and 167 (West Avon), according to Kushner.  

But neighbors to the proposed housing development have concerns that Haynes Road will be used as a short cut to travel between Hollister Drive and West Avon Road and that traffic will increase.

Sunlight Construction's traffic engineer said it will not likely be an issue, but neighbors still have doubt about whether that could change. The town has hired its own traffic engineer to review the developer's traffic study. The findings will likely be presented on Tuesday night and it's possible the commission might vote on the application.