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Traffic concerns prompt request for additional analysis on Bright Raven hotel conversion
Summary
Applicant for Bright Raven’s conversion of a Danbury hotel to apartments told the commission it expects a net increase of about 100 afternoon peak‑hour trips; residents and commissioners pressed for a detailed driveway and queuing analysis and the hearing was continued to April 16 to allow submission of revised plans and traffic data.
The Danbury Planning Commission on April 2 pressed the applicant for Bright Raven's IS Danbury LLC to produce more detailed traffic analysis after the applicant’s consultant said the hotel‑to‑residential conversion would add about 100 net afternoon peak‑hour trips.
Steve Sullivan, a professional engineer with CCA LLC, said the project team will submit revised plans and responses to staff comments and asked that the commission continue the public hearing. Traffic consultant Joe Balskus said the conversion is expected to create about a 100‑trip increase in the afternoon peak hour compared with the prior hotel use, while noting the study shows a modest overall daily decrease.
Balskus said most trips are expected to use the Interstate 84 ramps (he estimated roughly 80 percent) rather than routing on Mill Plain Road, but he acknowledged that the distribution depends on tenants’ origins and that the estimate could change. He said a 100‑trip increase in the afternoon peak hour is smaller than typical warrant thresholds for signalization and that, on its face, it would not trigger a traffic signal at the project driveway.
Several residents and commissioners urged a more conservative analysis. Resident Ben Chernazi said local streets could plausibly attract far more trips than the consultant predicted given nearby retail and restaurant draws. Another resident (identified in the record as Ellen Mari) told the commission: "I call BS on what our little traffic engineer has said about the impact of Mill Plain Road," citing frequent congestion when Interstate 84 is blocked.
Commissioner Paul Rotello and others said queuing can arrive in concentrated clumps rather than being evenly spread across an hour and asked for modeling of morning and afternoon peak conditions and driveway queuing and left‑turn impacts. Balskus agreed to provide a follow‑up analysis showing intersection and driveway operations in both peak periods and to include more local distribution data for Old Ridgebury/Oldridge Berry Road.
The commission continued the hearing to April 16, 2025, to allow filing of the revised plans and the requested traffic analyses.
