Village Green Solutions Map: View a map of the Village Green area with proposed solutions.
The final zone in the Village of Barton which was targeted was the Village Green area. Increased activity for the benefit of the businesses, citizens, and village as a whole would result from a more pedestrian friendly and active center. In order to create a center that encourages people to stop in Barton and walk around, sidewalks and crosswalks need to be in place. The sidewalk construction that is already occurring will begin to address this need. Crosswalks would help slow traffic and help pedestrian access to businesses. A crosswalk at the top of School Street across Route #5 is important for school children. Cooperation to allow shared parking between the lots of the post office, bank, grocery store, and municipal offices would allow people running errands to visit all of these facilities without having to move their car fifty feet to another parking lot. Signage, landscaping, and lighting that is uniform with those previously recommended would also benefit the Village Green area. From the Village Green area, especially as a pedestrian, it is difficult to determine the location of the lake. Similarly designed signage which direct traffic but are also easy for pedestrians to view would connect the Village Green with surrounding attractions such as the lake. These signs should include direction to the recreation path, the Brick Kingdom, the State Park, and Crystal Lake outlet. Trees planted along the sidewalks would build a pleasant and protected atmosphere for visitors and local people on foot. Lighting fixtures in the center would increase commerce in the evening. The potential for an inexpensive evening restaurant catering to the youth, visitors, and families is created with increased use of the village center and evening lighting. The space above the pharmacy and adjacent buildings is potential space for more businesses such as the restaurant or if the need arises, a hotel. The location of a hotel in the center would facilitate the success of businesses there. (If a hotel were located near the interstate, for example, guests would need a car to drive into the center, thus causing congestion or the potential for them seeking restaurants and businesses outside of Barton.)
The key feature to establishing a center which is pleasant for pedestrians is the Village Green. By distinguishing the Green as a place to sit, relax, and eat ice cream in the summer, and make snowmen in the winter this area will serve more as a gathering place for people than as a traffic conductor. Some suggestions for improvement of the green include reintroducing a gazebo/bandstand structure, installing benches, adding a more attractive granite curb, lighting, creating a well-defined walkway to be used as a sidewalk across the center, and possibly even expanding the Green and creating one way auto-traffic around it. In the winter, snowplows should be discouraged from pushing snow onto the Green. It was suggested that area high school students could help in the design and construction of all or part of the green's improvements. It was a concern that teenagers may be destructive towards new structures in the village area, therefore their involvement in the improvements may aid in the preservation of such structures. Along similar lines, increasing the availability of evening activities for youth by reviving the use of the auditorium as a movie theatre or by building the village proposed skateboard park might be worthwhile.
Parking availability has been a recent issue. By creating shared facilities, the use of existing parking areas would be maximized. Visitor parking including tour buses could share the Barton Graded School lot, located along School Street, on the weekends and during the summer. Church parking lots could provide space for weekday parking.
In keeping with the contiguous aspect of the pathway system, sidewalks in the center should be linked at the intersection of Water Street and Elm Street, along Route #5 towards the outlet, and near Congress Court at the pathway along Barton River. Signage for people using the pathway in both directions at these and other key points would be crucial for the flow of the pedestrian, bike, etc. traffic. The use of the sidewalk would be encouraged by allowing the path to become an established part of traffic flow at the Water Street, Elm Street, and Glover Street intersection. A median strip separating pedestrian/bike traffic would help protect them and create visibility as they cross the intersection.
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu Reviewed on 3/28/97
