Residents Urged to Attend Session on Future Planning for Route 44, Canton Center

Later this month, residents, developers and land-use commissioners are invited to gather and offer input on future planning for Route 44 as well as Canton Center village.

Monday, March 26 the University of Connecticut Landscape Architecture Studio will host a Charrette.

The charrette is a kind of intensive planning workshop designed to set forth a collaborative effort for future development and other planning. The process is often designed to bring competing interests together and find solutions.

The charrette will kick off a project by a University of Connecticut Landscape Architecture studio course in community planning, according to a town press release.

After the initial charrette, the students will come back to town on April 25 with concept master plans and take additional comment.

“We’re happy to be able to support the students,” town planner Neil Pade said about the project.

The charrette could cover guidelines for development, housing and recreation on Route 44, analyze existing zoning and even suggest design standards and building styles.

For Canton Center the discussion will focus on ways to enhance and protect the center and whether any further development is appropriate.  

The timing of the charrette could also be advantageous in town since a committee, town staff and a consultant are working on updating the 10-year Plan of Conservation and Development, which is designed to be a roadmap for future planning. Some of the ideas could be incorporated into it, Pade said.

The charrette will take place at 7 p.m. in the Canton Community Center on March 26, 2012. Any questions can be directed to:

• Neil Pade, Dir. Of Planning & Community Development at (860) 693-7891 or NPade@TownofCantonCT.org
• Paula Stahl, UConn Extension at (860) 486-1215 or paula.stahl@uconn.edu