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Two sides struggle to meet on Tolland historic sidewalk accessibility

Journal Inquirer - 10/20/2021

Oct. 20—TOLLAND — Town officials are wrangling with possible solutions to making the historic sidewalks on the Tolland Green accessible and compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

The sidewalks consist of an uneven granite surface and were installed in the late 1700s and early 1800s. According to interim Town Manager Lisa Hancock, the stone can't be leveled because of the "curvy" nature of its surface, and materials to replace the stone with similar granite are not available.

SIDEWALKS

WHAT: The Town Council and Commission on People with Disabilities favor putting an accessible sidewalk on the Tolland Green, while the Historic District Commission wants to keep the Green untouched.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: Town officials are considering running a new, accessible sidewalk next to the old one.

In a joint meeting Tuesday with the Town Council, Historic District Commission, and the Commission on People with Disabilities, multiple sides brought their ideas to the table to try to find an equitable solution.

A suggestion by an engineer to install a new concrete sidewalk adjacent to the old granite one was not embraced by the council.

"It won't be attractive at all," Council Chairwoman Tammy Nuccio said, adding it would be a "hard sell."

Hancock said that a parallel concrete sidewalk wouldn't look right and it would create two separate sidewalks to be maintained.

Another idea suggested by Nuccio and Councilman Lou Luba was to either construct a new, accessible sidewalk on the Green itself, or move the current granite sidewalk onto the Town Green and construct a new accessible sidewalk in its place.

"You can still maintain the look and people can still get a feel for what the sidewalks were like," Luba said.

One of the major problems with the old granite sidewalk is that it is both historic and provides access to Tolland's major municipal buildings, Susan Lucek-Hughes, a member of the disabilities commission, said.

"Everyone should have access to those," she said. She said she loves the old sidewalks and agreed with installing an accessible sidewalk on the Town Green itself that "could connect to everything we need to connect to."

Historic District Commission members had problems with this solution, though.

"I think we're taking away the significance of the Green if we move the sidewalks," said Commission Chair Jodie Coleman-Marzialo, who said the Green is a wide open area that remains untouched today.

"You're not leaving what the history put there," she said.

"I think we really need to think about the Green. Do we want to protect the Green?" Historic District Commission member Kathy Bach asked.

Coleman-Marzialo suggested putting a walking lane on the Tolland Green Extension road, which runs parallel to the Town Green on the opposite side from Route 195. But Nuccio disagreed with that, saying it could be too dangerous.

Bach then suggested that the town provide motorized wheelchairs with inflated tires to people so they could easily traverse the historic sidewalk.

"Anybody with any disability could experience all textures of the Green," she said.

Lucek-Hughes had reservations, saying: "Powered wheelchairs aren't affordable or easy to maintain."

Luba said that running a parallel sidewalk might be the town's best option.

"We've got two competing interests here that I don't see meeting," he said.

Town Planner David Corcoran said that since the current historic sidewalk runs alongside Route 195, the town would need state approval for any construction. The town also would have to work on private property the sidewalk runs through.

Nuccio said the meeting was a good start and suggested homeowners who live on the Town Green might want to weigh in on the issue.

Ben covers Coventry and Tolland for the Journal Inquirer.

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