Council Rescinds New Britain Ave. Decision

The Town Council voted to rescind its earlier approval of the New Britain Avenue relocation plan, 6-1 Tuesday night, preempting a tentatively planned special town meeting.

Save the Ville, a group of Wall Street residents and nearby business owners, secured 1,764 signatures in opposition to the plan, enough to call the special town meeting.

Council member and traffic committee spokesman John Vibert made the motion to rescind the Nov. 15 vote. Charlie Keniston voted against it.

“I still feel this is the best plan I’ve seen … but I don’t think it’s a good idea as a town to move ahead with a plan that’s divisive to the community,” Vibert explained.

Though Save the Ville became a vocal critic of the plan after the council vote, Vibert said the traffic committee heard very little opposition beforehand, when the committee presented the plan to business owners, neighbors and the public.

“If we had any indication early on that there was this kind of opposition, we wouldn’t have moved forward,” he said.

All the councilors agreed. Some offered an explanation for their vote in favor of the project.

Patty Stoddard, who lives in the Lake Garda area, said she talked to business owners before the vote and was unaware of the opposition.

But she underlined that a new bridge was never on the table — something she said she received numerous questions about.

“I don’t think we can say it enough. It wasn’t a choice of this plan or a bridge. Clearly most people don’t know it’s really not an option to us right now,” she said.

Town Council members lauded the “ladies of Wall Street” for getting involved in the movement and encouraged them to stay involved in the future.

CJ Thomas and Nancy Nickerson, who voted against the plan Nov. 15, praised the group for getting involved and taking action. They encouraged them to stay involved now that they’ve seen what impact they can have.

Charlie Keniston, who heads up the traffic committee didn’t offer any apologies for his position or the plan. He took aim at Save the Ville criticisms, saying the people he picked for the committee are all deeply loyal to Unionville, traffic congestion remains a problem for the region and safety issues— especially with the Rails to Trails crossing — will persist.

“If 10 percent of those people [who signed the petition] came before our group, we would have taken a whole different stance,” Keniston said.

With state funding earmarked for the area likely slipping away, the committee meets again at 8 a.m. this morning to decide how to proceed.