With issues of traffic safety, historic preservation and neighborhood character, Avon split on Old Farms Road redesign

With nearly $5.5 million in state aid potentially at risk, Avon officials are looking for a “yes” vote Wednesday on the referendum to rebuild part of Old Farms Road.

Improvements would make the road safer by widening part of its narrow lanes, improving sight lines and enabling police to do more traffic enforcement, according to advocates.

But a contingent of residents is campaigning to defeat the proposal, arguing that it would ruin the road’s rural New England character, destroy too many trees and encourage more commercial traffic.

They’ve launched a website and a Facebook page, and several streets in town now have lawn signs advising “Vote no.”

Residents and eligible property owners will get to make their choice Wednesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the senior center at 635 West Avon Road.

Support for the project has been bipartisan, with the town council unanimously agreeing that the historic road would be safer with two major intersection improvements designed for modern traffic. Town planning officials have approved the idea, too.

The proposal would use almost $5.5 million in state funds to pay contractors for rebuilding Avon Old Farms Road between Thompson and Scoville roads, roughly a third of a mile. The town wants to solicit contractors this winter and start construction before spring, projecting the work would take about a year.

The plan is for the existing roadway to be rebuilt 180 feet to the west. A roundabout would be installed at Old Farms Road and Scoville Road, and three-way stop put in at the Thompson Road intersection.

The Capitol Region Council of Governments has endorsed awarding the state money for Avon’s project, and local officials are concerned that the funds could be directed elsewhere if the referendum fails.

“CROG has prioritized our project for state money. If this gets voted down, we’re not sure what would happen — it depends on what CROG says,” said Dan Polhamus, chair of the town council. “We might have an opportunity to quickly revisit the design, or CROG might use the money in a different town. We’ve never been in this situation.”

Polhamus said it was frustrating to town officials that public opposition developed so late in the process.

“We’ve spent hours and hours and hours by town engineers and staff getting this together. We’ve sent an informational pamphlet out to every resident in town, but we still hear that some people didn’t get it,” he said. “It’s been on capital budgets every year for the last five or six years. And Old Farms Road has been talked about for the past 50 years.”

The council and town planners had held meetings to develop the plan, but heard no public opposition, he noted. At the Nov. 7 town meeting on Old Farms Road, though, residents peppered town officials with questions and criticisms about the plan.

They argued that the aesthetic value of a winding, tree-lined road from an earlier era shouldn’t be compromised by trying to make it more conducive to traffic. Tearing out trees to make way for realigning the roadway would be a waste, they said.

At the session, Joseph Gilberti said he and his wife decided to move to Avon in the early 1980s partly because of the attractiveness of that route.

“We were just astonished by it,” he said. “Our kids have grown up and all of us have driven that road, none of us have crashed. We don’t know anybody who has crashed. Because we’re careful.”

Elaine Widmer also warned against changing the road’s character.

“My husband and I moved to Avon because of the ambiance of the area,” she said.

Widmer and others complained that the redesign of a historic section of Old Farms Road at Route 10 would be an aesthetic disaster, resulting in a modern-looking road that they said is out of place.

Polhamus said Friday that some opponents suspect the town wants to create a highway through that part of town.

“That’s not true. We’re keeping the speed limit at 25 mph,” he said. “Right now a lot of people complain about speeding on the road, but there’s absolutely no shoulder there. The woods come right up to the road. It’s dangerous and it makes it hard to police.”