UConn Advance - September 26, 2005 - Public input sought on Storrs Center plan

A public hearing on the Municipal Development Plan for Storrs Center will be held on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Bishop Center.

The forum is intended to provide information about the progress of the Storrs Center project, and to gather public input.

The plan, available in the Mansfield Public Library and online at www.mansfieldct.org, gives details of the Storrs Center “Main Street” project, to be located at the crossroads of the Town of Mansfield and the University of Connecticut.

Before the hearing, there will be three open houses:

Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 5:30 p.m. in the Mansfield Downtown Partnership offices, 1244 Storrs Road, Storrs;
Tuesday, Oct. 4, at noon in the Mansfield Downtown Partnership offices;
Thursday, Oct. 6, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., in Bishop Center, Room 7, prior to the public hearing.

Macon Toledano, project manager for the development, and Cynthia van Zelm, executive director of the partnership, will be present at the open houses.

On Sept. 7, the state Office of Policy and Management concluded that the draft plan was in accordance with state agency planning program objectives, a critical step in the approval process for the project.

As part of the regional process, the plan will be reviewed at a special meeting of the Windham Region Council of Governments. At the local level, the plan was reviewed at a meeting of the Mansfield Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 19. It received a vote of recommendation.

The goal of the local review process is approval of the plan by the Town Council, after which it will be returned to the state Department of Economic and Community Development.