The Farmington Town Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to build a sidewalk along Meadow Road, approving a revised alignment known as Option 2 and ending a debate that has run through public hearings, a deferral, and a full redesign.
The walk will run from Wisteria Lane to New Britain Avenue, linking about 165 homes along Meadow Road to a sidewalk network that reaches the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail. What took two years was not whether to build it. It was which side of the road it should sit on.
The plan
Option 2, presented by Town Engineer and Public Works Director Russ Arnold, keeps the sidewalk on the north side of Meadow Road from Wisteria Lane past Wakefield Lane, then crosses to the south side just west of Judson Lane and continues to New Britain Avenue. It will be five feet wide, built of concrete, with ADA-compliant ramps and rapid-flashing beacons at the crossings, the kind that flash when a pedestrian presses a button.
That alignment is the entire difference between Option 2 and the plan the council sent back last spring. Option 1, aired at an April 28 public hearing, ran the whole sidewalk along the south side. Residents objected, the council deferred the vote and asked staff for an alternative, reached a consensus on the revised route on May 26, and set Tuesday's hearing on June 9.
The money
The project is estimated at just over $1 million: $500,000 from a state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant and roughly $534,832 in town capital. Under the town's sidewalk ordinance, abutting property owners will not be assessed for construction, but they remain responsible for snow removal, maintenance, and liability once the walk is in. Town Manager Kathleen Blonski's staff recommended no assessments, citing the public benefit.
North side or south
The public comment that preceded the vote was nearly all on one point: residents wanted more of the sidewalk, or all of it, on the north side, where most of the houses, and most of the children, are.
"Nearly every single neighborhood is on the north side, which means that all the kids are on that side of the road," said Alana Prenovitz of 15 Windham Lane, describing children who would now have to cross Meadow Road twice to reach friends' houses. "The purpose of a sidewalk is for safety. It's to connect the community. And it's to be able to use. And if all the people have to cross the street, is that really providing what it's intended for?"
Albert Petrowskis, whose family owns property at 355 Meadow Road, made the same case. "You have hardly nobody on the south side. Why would you want to have it on the south side?"
Council members said the answer was topography and cost. Keeping the walk entirely on the north side would have run into steep terrain, requiring retaining walls and, in places, the purchase of private property. Council Member Patti Boye-Williams, of District 2, said crossing the road where the grade forces it was safer than sending pedestrians across three times to get around it.
Running under the whole debate was a death. On May 18, a motorcyclist was killed in a crash on Meadow Road, and the driver of a pickup was charged with driving under the influence. Residents invoked it repeatedly Tuesday as a reason to build. "We all know what happened on May 18th," said Kevin Zhang, who owns 318 Meadow Road, arguing that crosswalks and flashing beacons would slow a road where "people drive like crazy."
What comes next
Council Member Keith Vibert, of District 2, framed the vote as the end of a deliberate process. "This was the second proposal we got. We saw one, we asked for it to be rewritten, we all liked it when we saw it the first time. It's the most cost-effective, puts the sidewalk up, and connects Meadow Road to rails-to-trails for everyone." Chair Brian F.X. Connolly thanked Arnold for reworking the design and walking the street with residents.
Several council members said the plan does not settle everything. "After we make our vote on this, we know we're not done with sidewalks," said Council Member Bruce Polsky, of District 1, pointing to unresolved questions about who clears the snow.
If the schedule holds, final design and bidding will happen this fall, with construction running from the spring of 2027 into the fall. Because the realignment stayed within the project's approved scope, Connolly said, it will not have to return to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Two years after the first hearing, the sidewalk has a route. The snow, as more than one council member noted, is a fight for another night.