At the September Saugatuck Transit Oriented Design meeting, the town's consultants presented a number of near- to long-term ideas for Saugatuck, including parking changes (including a one-story parking deck), traffic flow changes, and some potential developments both public and private (including between 150-200 new housing units built over ten years.) The proposal can be found here.
The committee will hold a meeting this Wednesday (10/4) at 8am at Town Hall to discuss these proposals. If you have any comments you'd like to share and can't make the meeting, please feel free to email info@savesaugatuck.com.
You can also read a text summary of the near term recommendations from the slide presentation here:
Near-Term Recommendations (1 to 3 years)
Slide 19 – Franklin Street Angled Parking. Execution of this improvement is imminent and the proposal predates this study.
Slide 20 – West Gateway/Strofolino Park. This shows the reconfiguration of the triangularly shaped Strofolino Park in to a more user-friendly open space, with sidewalks and landmark elements. Charles Street, on the north side of the park, is reconfigured to provide additional property for commercial development up against I-95 as well as to concentrate the open space/gateway into a more defined place (see slide 25.)
Slide 21 – Public Realm improvements on Railroad Place, Franklin Street, Charles Street, and Riverside. Each Street is treated differently, with the overall goal of clarifying and defining the public realm: Franklin Street: Currently one way northbound, would be converted to bidirectional, with curbs and sidewalks. Bi-directional conversion could occur in future phases.
Charles Street: Placement of curbs and sidewalks, as well as parallel parking spaces and street
trees.
Riverside Avenue: Public/business supportive parking is reconfigured and concentrated on
Riverside, with angle parking replacing both public and private parking areas on the east side.
A round-a-bout ends Riverside at Railroad Place, providing a more formal drop-off and pick
up location.
Railroad Place: The sidewalk adjacent to the shops and restaurants on the north side of the
street is expanded from 4 feet to 8 feet. Parallel parking is maintained, but total space count
reduced along this street as it is more than replaced elsewhere around the block.
Slide 22 – This portion of Public Realm improvements includes the northern portion of Riverside
Avenue and what had been referred to as the North Gateway. In place of what was once envisioned as a potential roundabout, Northern Gateway improvements now include defined crosswalks and landscape improvements at the intersection of Saugatuck, Treadwell and Riverside. Riverside Avenue itself would be improved through the placement of curb bump outs that define parallel parking spaces on the west side, and the addition of a planted verge and street trees on the east side. Both of these improvements will help define the sidewalks along this busy thoroughfare and make them more comfortable to utilize.
Slide 23- As with the northern portion of Riverside, the area to the south of the Cribrari Bridge is also shown with landscape and sidewalk improvements. Here, however, the scheme is reversed, with parallel spaces on the east side and a planted verge on the west. Additionally, what has been referred to as the East Gateway is shown here, with a small pocket park to the south of the Parker House on public land as well as enhanced crosswalks at the intersection of Bridge Street and Riverside.
Near-Term Private Realm
Slides 24-25 – In conjunction with the improvements to the Western Gateway and Strofolino Park, as well as the reconfiguration of this portion of Charles Street, a larger parcel is created to allow the construction of a small market building, perhaps focused on take-out prepared foods for commuters.
At 5,000 square feet, this use is much smaller than typical convenience retail so the target ownership group would need to be a smaller entrepreneur or locally-based business person. Parking is tucked behind the building, with the front facing Charles Street and an outdoor eating area facing Strofolino Park.
Slides 26 & 27 – Already the focus of an unofficial redevelopment proposal, this block directly adjacent to the train station is predominantly (though not completely) assembled into a single ownership entity. Excluding the corner of Charles and Franklin Streets, the proposal here shows the preservation of all structures along Railroad Place, and the construction of three liner buildings surrounding a two level parking structure completely hidden from view and privately owned. The lower level would provide parking for the private development program, with the upper level accessible to the public/business customers. The parking deck is covered by an amenity deck for the residences proposed. In total, this proposal shows between 45 and 60 residential units and approximately 10,000 square feet of street facing retail.
Slides 28 & 29 - The Private Realm here is focused on the former Button Factory building and the
former Post Office, with the marine-oriented businesses left as is. The former Button Factory building would be renovated for residential use, while the Post Office building would be redeveloped into mixed use, with below building parking accessed from the east side, where the floodplain comes into play. Overall this private sector intervention would total 28 to 32 residential units, and approximately 2,000 square feet of retail.
Slides 30 & 31 – The Parker House site is the focus of an existing land development application, with our recommendation showing a possible reconfiguration of the parking area and waterfront in conjunction with that redevelopment and the proposed Public Realm Improvements. Specifically, we are proposing public access to the water’s edge in an effort to extend a pedestrian-friendly waterfront trail from the yacht club to the East Gateway Pocket Park.
Slides 32 & 33 – The side yard and rear yard of the Fire House should become a waterfront trail and public access point to the Saugatuck River with the potential for a small plaza and sitting garden for use by the public as well as firefighters at the fire station.
Slide 34 – This is a summary slide showing all of the TOD Study area and the proposed Near-term
intervention.