Shopping Developments in Deep River, Connecticut: Smart Growth Will Preserve the Town's Character

Professor Advises Residents on Maintaining Town's Character

Deep River, Connecticut - Shopping at the grocery store, buying tools at the local hardware store, getting the kids some toys, and buying that special gift at the card shop can be done in this small town, all within walking distance.

Many of the businesses in village center are still independently owned where the owners personally know their customers. 

In many towns, such a convenience simply does not exist.

Instead those towns have sprawl characterized by large shopping centers filled with chain restaurants and stores surrounded by seas of macadam with little or no landscaping.

Such commercial strip areas often feature large illuminated signs in an automobile oriented environment next to large multi-lane roads.

The Tri-State Regional Plan Agency has studied the tri-state region (Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey) since the 1960's and concluded while population increased by only 13 percent, developed areas increased by 60 percent.

Upcoming development which will change Deep River's village center includes a 9,960 square foot Walgreens pharmacy with prescription drive-thru, a new 3,744 square foot Cumberland Farms convenience store with three gasoline islands, and the transformation of the Elms from that of a boarding house to 5,200 square feet of retail and 900 square feet of offices.

First Selectman Richard Smith said "so much has happened to Deep River in the past four years," adding that only a few years ago the Deep River Shopping Center was renovated resulting in an expanded Adam's grocery store.

Concerned about such development, the Citizens for Deep River group sponsored a recent workshop featuring Jim Gibbons, Land Use and Natural Resource Program Coordinator for the University of Connecticut, who spoke about smart growth strategies which aim to fight off sprawl.

About forty residents attended the workshop, wanting to learn how economic development and preservation can be balanced.