Planning Avon Village Center

One thing has always been missing from Avon since it split from Northington, or the North parish of Farmington, in 1830 to become incorporated as a town.

“There really was no Avon center,” Avon Town Planner Steven M. Kushner said.

With the concept of a traditional New England town center in mind, Ensign Bickford Realty Corporation has a pending application sitting with the Avon Planning and Zoning Commission for the development of Avon’s first contiguous village center on its Avon Park North property.

This will be a long-term project that could take as many as 15 years to complete, Kushner previously told Patch.

The Master Plan

Ensign Bickford’s plan is to hire developers to build the center on 1.2 million square feet of the remaining 96.5 acres of the company's land. Based on the preliminary master plan, that would be divided up into eight parcels, so that could mean one developer or up to eight, Kushner said.

The developers will be responsible for submitting site plan and special permit applications to the commission before building, he explained.

There is a ninth section, 14.49 acres, that would be reserved for creating a new park, centered around a large oak tree off Ensign Drive, near Nod Brook. The tree was damaged during the Oct. 29 snowstorm, but is still standing. The park and village center would be made accessible to the Farmington Valley Greenway trails near Sperry Park. Kushner said that the preliminary designs reflect a pedestrian-friendly area.

The project also includes about 500 apartments and condominiums, small retail stores, restaurants and offices.

“The housing is complimentary to that and is not to be dominant,” Kushner said.

The preliminary design entails building two new roads within the site. The first, Main Street, would be a private drive running from Woodford Avenue to Climax Road, "the major spine" of the proposed retail district. The second, which the master plan calls Bickford Street, would connect Bickford Drive to the new main street and would also be a private road.

The new downtown will be located in the new mixed use Avon Village Center zone, provided that Ensign Bickford’s request to amend the current Industrial Park, Industrial and Commercial Park A zones on that land and adopt the new zone is approved by the commission.

Neighboring property owners can also apply to join the zone.

Village Districts Act

In 1998, the Connecticut General Assembly passed the Village Districts Act, which Kushner said allows planning and zoning commissions to consider architecture in select cases of reviewing town center development applications. Very few towns have enacted it, however, he said.

“Usually they are prevented under the law from making decisions on architecture. This is unique,” Kushner said. “It’s tipping the balance in favor of the commission’s ability to critically review architecture.”

This act enables the town and commission to have more control over the design for a district center, he said, ensuring that it fits with the envisioned historical and aesthetic character of the town. In this case, the design emulates a quaint New England village center. West Hartford Center and Blue Back Square are larger examples.

“There’s always a struggle between private property rights and the common interest of the community,” Kushner said. “Towns are limited to reviewing site plans for compliance with zoning regulations. The commission often times comments on aesthetics, but under law, the commission is not allowed to approve or deny on the basis of architecture.”

The act also allows towns to choose an architect to consult with the developers on the project. Ensign Bickford and the developers would pay for that architect, Kushner said.

“The taxpayers won’t have to pay for any of this,” Kushner said.

Impact on Taxpayers

All of the land will remain taxable.

“On build out, it is a net positive for the town,” Kushner said, referencing University of Massachusetts economist John Mullin’s fiscal impact report on the proposed development.

Bottom line, Kushner said that Mullin’s presentation at the commission meeting on Tuesday reflected a savings of roughly $181 per taxpayer, or $1.5 million in net tax revenue to the town per year.

That is after an estimated $1.3 million in town cost services and $866,000 in school district expenses are deducted, bringing the predicted overall annual tax revenue for the village center to $3.7 million, Kushner said.

New Urbanism

Kushner described this format of town planning “new urbanist,” a throwback to the traditional quaint New England village center with a modern spin.

“It emulates two architectural styles, the 1800s – 19th century – colonial homes converted to commercial buildings and the brownstones,” Kushner said.

Avon Town Hall sits near Avon Park North in old Ensign Bickford brownstone factory buildings, where the company used to manufacture explosives. There are some small businesses in some of the abutting brownstone buildings, including the Farmington Valley Arts Center.

The master plan also incorporates low-impact development techniques to handle storm water drainage, such as rain gardens rather than predominantly concrete pipes and catch basins.

The History of Downtown Avon

Ensign Bickford used to have housing for its workers on Eddy Street and Ensign Drive, so they could walk to the factory, Kushner said.

“Company had big influences over your lives then,” Kushner said.

It also wasn’t uncommon for families to live above their business.

“You’d have the shoemaker down on the first floor and his family upstairs,” Kushner said.

That is a small element of the proposed village center design, which includes 20 units that would be located above businesses.

Old Avon Village and Riverdale Farms are the major commercial establishments in the center of Avon, but linear development began in the 1960s when cars became increasingly popular and Route 44 was built, Kushner said.

The state highways, Routes 10 and 44, divide the shopping district, which consists of several pockets of smaller plazas and strip malls that stretch from Old Avon Village to Avon Marketplace.

“It was an era where suburbs were growing,” Kusner said. “People gained affluence and bought family station wagons.”

Prior to that, the major attractions in Avon were a railroad depot, small family-owned grocery stores and the post office.

“Avon was mostly an agricultural town,” Kushner said.

What’s Next

Ensign Bickford’s application, including the zone change request and preliminary master plan, has been tabled until the Jan. 3 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, though Kushner said it may not be addressed until the Jan. 24 meeting.

The commission has to approve the applications in order for Ensign Bickford to move forward and hire developers for the project.

It is possible that the commission will take another few months to vote on the proposed project, Kushner said.

Editor's Note: The conceptual maps for the project are attached, but are preliminary copies and Ensign Bickford may make revisions.