Madison News Roundup

In response to neighborhood complaints about high volume and speed of traffic, the town is creating a traffic calming policy for evaluating and prioritizing traffic abatement requests. Madison Public Works Director Mike Ott said the town has received several formal and informal requests from residents in the Waterbury Avenue area — as well as other neighborhoods — for help with their traffic problems. Ott said a traffic calming policy is needed so that the town has a consistent method for evaluating and acting on such requests, particularly in light of budget limitations. The town needs a method for gathering data in areas where there are complaints, and deciding on the most appropriate remedies, which might include allowing on-street parking, adding medians, or creating islands, raised intersections, speed humps or a speed cushion, Ott said. Read Amanda Pinto’s account in the Register.

The Madison, CT Police Department on Friday promoted officers Brian Baxter and R. Neal Mulhern to the rank of sergeant. Both are decorated veterans of the department and come from law enforcement families. Baxter started with the department in 1999, and Mulhern in 2000. Baxter lives in Branford with his wife and two children and Mulhern lives in Madison with his wife and two children. The promotions bring the number of sergeants in the Madison police force to four. The department also has 4 lieutenants, 18 patrol officers, and 7 dispatchers in addition to new Chief of Police Jack Drumm. Read Marianne Sullivan’s account in Zip06.

Madison police have arrested four teenagers on charges including first-degree sexual assault in connection with an incident involving a 13-year-old girl at a house party on New Year’s Eve. The New Haven Register reports that the juveniles, said to be about the same age as the victim, turned themselves in to police on Thursday night after learning of warrants for their arrest. There is also a warrant for a fifth person, and the investigation is ongoing, the newspaper said. Police declined to say where the teens are from or specify their gender. In January, police said a group of boys was suspected in the assault. All four teens were charged with sexual assault in the first degree, conspiracy to commit sexual assault in the first degree and risk of injury to a minor. Two of the juveniles also were charged with unlawful restraint, one juvenile was charged with conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, and one juvenile faces both of those charges. All four were taken to the juvenile detention facility on Whalley Avenue in New Haven, where they will be held until court opens Tuesday. Read Amanda Pinto’s account in the Register.

After a year of preparation — and one final postponement for Wednesday’s snowstorm — Donahue’s Madison Beach Grille opened Thursday to a large and enthusiastic crowd.

The restaurant, run by brothers Patrick and Chris Donahue, as well as Kate and D.J. Donahue, is on the site of the former Vicky’s Corner Restaurant near the eastern edge of town.

Patrick Donahue said the restaurant seeks to combine fine dining with live entertainment, “Something we just don’t have around here.” The Donahue family has been in the restaurant business for 33 years, formerly owning Rory’s in Darien, and the Terrace Club in Stamford.

Donahue said the restaurant will feature a broad spectrum of American cuisine — including steaks, chops, pasta, and seafood — and will serve lunch and dinner 7 days a week (as well as Sunday brunch). Burgers and sandwiches run $8.95 and up, and dinner entrees range from about $14.95 to $26.95.

The outside of the building looks a bit like the old Vicky’s but the resemblance ends there. The interior features an attractive wood-paneled bar/lounge area, as well as a separate dining room. The bar area has a raised stage for live music, and also seven large, flat-screen TVs.

The last in a series of H1N1 flu clinics for the towns of Madison, Guilford, Branford, North Branford and East Haven is scheduled for Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at Branford High School. Please visit the health department website for more information and to schedule an appointment.

As Madison selectmen prepare to appoint an ad hoc committee to make recommendations on the future of the 42-acre Griswold property, one of the options being proposed is that the land once again be used as an airport. The Shore Line Times reports that Madison resident Joe Fairfax, a veteran pilot, and former Griswold Airport Manager Loren Baker Jr. are mounting a campaign to re-license the site as an airport. They say that returning the land to airport use would be a “win-win” for the town and conservationists, and that an airport would not preclude some of the site being used for playing fields and other recreational purposes. In an extremely large turnout of voters, Madison residents voted to have the town acquire the property from Leyland Alliance, which had approval to build a 127-unit housing development on the site. More than 57% of voters favored the acquisition. Under the terms of the referendum measure, the town will appropriate $9 million for acquisition of the property for use as “open space, recreational, and other municipal purposes.” The bond issue would also pay to remove the runway and remediate contaminants in the land.

The Meigs Point Nature Center at Hammonasset Beach State Park needs docents to help its staff teach schoolchildren about the park’s rocky shore, sandy beach, and salt marsh environments. Free training sessions are held at the center in six, 2-hour modules, each focusing on one aspect of the park’s habitat and wildlife. The training is held on Thursdays and Saturdays, in 20- to 30-minute sessions. The first session is Thursday, Feb. 4, from 2 to 4 p.m. Call 203-245-8743 to enroll or for information.

The Friends of the Scranton Library would like your input on programs at the library. Here is your opportunity to offer suggestions and let them know the kinds of programs you would enjoy. Tell them what times and days of the week work best for you to attend a program at the Library. The six-question survey lets you check off any ideas that appeal to you, and also add any suggestions of your own. You can access the survey here.

There is nothing new about conflict and controversy surrounding the Madison Police Department, but this time, at least, it sounds like the problems are being ironed out. Documents obtained by the New Haven Register under a Freedom of Information Act request revealed a history of friction and feuding between police officers and police dispatchers. Police supervisors complained of dispatch errors ranging from data inputting problems to failure to provide information that could jeopardize officers’ safety. For their part, dispatchers said they were tired of being made scapegoats for police department mistakes. New Madison Police Chief John Drumm has said the relationship between dispatchers and officers is vital, and he has been working to mend the breach. The dispatch center, which handles calls for the volunteer fire department, ambulance, police, 911, and radio channels, is housed within police headquarters, but police have no administrative control over it. Read Amanda Pinto’s account in the Register.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled last week that a lawsuit against the town of Madison alleging excessively high building fees can proceed. The high court upheld the class-action status of the builders and property owners who sued the town, and turned down the town’s request to strike the claim that Madison violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA). Builders sued the town after it raised building fees by 50 percent in 2003. They claimed Madison violated CUTPA because it used money from the building permits for matters other than to cover the costs associated with the building oversight process. Plaintiff’s attorneys have said that more than 5,000 people acquired building permits between 2003 and 2008, and that town could be liable for up to $6 million. Town officials have said they will review the ruling with counsel and their insurance carrier before deciding how to proceed. Read Amanda Pinto’s story in the Register.