Main Street Noank

I have known Noank since being stationed in New London in the Navy Submarine service 1978. I have lived on Noble Ave in the late 1980s and now am a full time resident home owner on Main Street (#62) with my wife Pat since 2016. I agree with much of Andrew Blacker’s concerns about keeping the character of the village as a paramount goal. Underground utilities are a smart investment.

A big part of what has kept Noank special is that it is relatively unknown and has been bypassed over the years by the hordes of tourists riding the 95 corridor to Mystic, Newport, Cape Cod and Maine etc. I realize that the existing businesses here need customers to thrive but, there needs to be a happy medium. No one wants what has happened to Mystic in recent years to occur in Noank. It doesn’t take much to overload this village with cars looking for places to park and crowds walking up and down taking pictures. It’s a real worry. Adding additional side walks and bathrooms will make Noank another Mystic. A mess of traffic backed up along Main Street from the village dock to the Mystic-Noank road. Additional side walks in front of homes with no drive way only encourages people to “camp out” here. Side walks in front of private homes serve no purpose. Same for permanent toilets. Refurbish/ improve existing storm drains and existing sidewalks; transfer pole mounted utilities to underground where it makes sense, but don’t add unnecessary walkways in front of peoples homes. I’m sure many home owners along Main Street will agree with me. Being able to stand out on Main Street and talk to your neighbors is a precious quality of this village. Stop injecting unnecessary “improvements” into the village. Noank needs to remain a village and not become an overcrowded town.