Town Commission Keeps Darien Beautiful

Unkempt. Woebegone. Neglected. Overgrown.

Such terms are anathema to the Darien Beautification Commission, the town agency created in 1991 to "improve the overall appearance of Darien."

To the "BC," as its members affectionately refer to it, these descriptive words apply in bold capital letters to the grassy but barren-looking traffic islands that greet travelers on the Post Road, as they enter pretty Darien from Norwalk.

At its monthly meeting on Sept. 14, the BC set as its first priority for 2010 to tap into the creative minds of community landscapers, designers and green thumbs to assist it in transforming the unsightly stretch into a thing of beauty.

The BC knows a thing or two about how to enhance townscape appearances.

The 24 baskets of overflowing pink and purple petunias, hanging suspended from old-fashioned lampposts alongside the Post Road in downtown, are one example of the BC fulfilling its aesthetic ambitions.

Soon the BC will invite community groups to join in digging individual holes, eight inches deep, at select locations all around town for 10,500 daffodil bulbs. Spring 2010 will be shockingly yellow everywhere you look.

Suzanne Schutte, chairing the BC meeting at Town Hall, said she planned to drive to Litchfield County to pick up the bulbs to save the $200 in delivery charges.

"Darien is what it is because of its volunteers," she said.

The BC already prettifies 30 islands at town intersections; for 2010, the BC wants to reach out to invite more businesses to "adopt a spot" and "adopt a garden" for beautification.

At the monthly meeting, member John Schlachtenhaufen delivered a report on the BC’s upkeep of several historic cemeteries, including the Bates Middlesex Cemetery which got a new sign recently.

It was also resolved that the BC should invite a representative of the Public Works Department to sit it on the busiest meetings—in September and April—when the Commission makes plans for the coming year and sets things in motion the following spring.

A liaison with DPW might have avoided the loss of specimen trees to the I-95 lane-expansion project now nearing completion and perhaps resulted is a more sensitive planting plan, BC members said.

Ongoing plans to improve the appearance of the Noroton Heights train station and to address the "general cleanliness of downtown" were also advanced, as well as a partnership to restore a building at Tilley Pond Park.

Finally, the commission gave thought to mounting outdoor banners of artwork, depicting the beauty of Darien.