Minutes
TOWN OF GRANBY
GRANBY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
Town Hall Meeting Room
Monday, May 10, 2010
7:00 P.M.
Present: Bud Murtha, Chairman, Martin Schwager, John Krug, Robert Rome, Ken Kuhl, Edward Guarco and Fran Armentano, Director of Community Development.
Attending from the public was Matt Garrett of 56 Day St South, who was invited to participate in the discussions.
The Commission briefly discussed current development activity.
Chairman Murtha introduced the Creative Ideas for Granby’s future presentation. Tonight’s presentation was by John Krug.
John Krug provided the Commission members with a power point presentation on Pocket Parks. John showed a number of slides, which depicted a wide variety of Pocket Park styles and details which were based on the Pocket Park Concept. The parks are small green areas that are designed to add interest, beautify and enhance areas that are underutilized and/or unsightly. He handed out Pocket Park Development Standards, adopted by Visalia City Council, dated February 7, 2005. John showed photos of the Granby Center and suggested areas where Pocket Park concepts could be utilized. He also identified pedestrian linkages between various center businesses. The Commission discussed a way to formalize and improve these pedestrian linkages. They discussed ways that they might encourage the planting of
flowers and other types of attractive vegetation in the areas discussed. Benches and bicycle racks were discussed. The Commission members identified barriers which restrict pedestrians from walking between businesses. The Town Green was discussed and the members felt that it was underutilized. A partial cause of this is the lack of a pedestrian walkway from the interior portion of the Center. Commission members discussed merging John Krug’s ideas with Ken Kuhl’s previous presentation and hiring a landscape architect to prepare drawings that would aid in visualizing how and where Pocket Parks might exist. A large landscaped area of perennial and annual flowers was suggested for the vacant land at the corner of Bank Street and Hartford Avenue. Fran agreed to contact the owner about the temporary use of this land. The Commission asked if Fran could prepare a map showing pedestrian ways within the Center area. They asked if he
could explore funding for a Landscape Architect.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Fran Armentano
Acting Recording Secretary
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