After many heated debates over the likes of the Shoreline Greenway Trail (SGT), the Nut Plains Pathway, and pedestrian safety in general, on April 16 the Board of Selectmen (BOS) formally established the Guilford Safe Streets Mobility Task Force. The committee is tasked with taking a broad look at pedestrian safety and transportation across the whole town.

Plans for the committee were set in motion after the Nut Plains and SGT debates and after numerous residents came forward with petitions earlier this year asking for sidewalks in certain areas in town. First Selectman Matt Hoey said the plan will address all concerns raised and will focus on pedestrian safety including walking, cycling, and pushing of strollers, as well as concerns related to cars such as transportation and traffic-calming solutions.

Hoey said he has about 15 people who have volunteered for the committee. He said the goal is for the committee to be large enough so that it can look at various issues and so that all opinions have equal representation.

“We are going to be stretching these folks pretty thin if they have to sit on two or three different subcommittees,” he said. “This community was fractured over the last couple of years with issues pitting neighborhoods against each other...I want full representation of the various interest groups who have voiced their opinions and concerns about the various projects.”

In addition, Hoey said he wants to find residents who might have a useful talent such as civil engineers or architects who might be willing to sit on the committee. Hoey said town staff such as the police, town planner, and town engineer will be made available to the committee for when input is needed. For now there is no money allocated to the committee, but Hoey said that might change.

“We may be coming back for some funding for this because at some point we are probably going to be looking at a facilitator or an outside consultant to do some of the study work,” he said. “I would eventually like to allocate some funds from our unassigned fund balance.”

BOS members agreed this taskforce is an important way to look at the whole issues and not get bogged down in heated debates over particular components like SGT.

“The reality is we are not going to make everybody happy and there are some decisions that are going to come out of this taskforce that are not going to met with the full acceptance of many of our friends and neighbors, but on the other hand we hope that many of those recommendations do meet the general acceptance of the town,” Hoey said.

In addition to establishing the taskforce, at the meeting the BOS approved moving the Transportation Alternative Funds that had been previously assigned to the Nut Plains Pathway to another potential project in town.

Hoey explained that the state has been asking when the town will start to use that money as the Nut Plains Pathway project was originally supposed to start about a month ago. Hoey said he has had conversations with the South Central Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG), the organization that administers the money, and Hoey said SCRCOG has been willing to consider assigning the money to another project in town.

“In particular I would like to recommend to SCRCOG that we take a look at the Route 77 or Church Street corridor between Adams Middle School and the Guilford Racquet Club for study and potentially build some kind of pathway or sidewalk between those areas,” he said.

The grant is approximately $660,000 and could reasonably cover any studies and possible solutions in the area. Hoey said that area of town near the highway is particularly dangerous for pedestrians.

“The Police Department worked with the State of Connecticut in identifying challenging and dangerous intersections throughout the community,” he said. “It was a federal program they did about a year ago and this intersection was identified as a problematic area and probably our most dangerous intersection, particularly for pedestrians.”

Selectmen agreed with moving the money and looking at this area on Route 77, but asked if it wouldn’t make more sense to put this project under the purview of the taskforce.

Hoey said hopefully the taskforce and weigh in or possibly take this project over down the road, but for now the town is going to start the process because of the funding timeline.