Thompsonville will never become Enfield's downtown, but something else might

Freshwater Pond, Thompsonville, Connecticut

Middletown is everything Enfield ought to be. That city's main street is a destination for Central Connecticut. It's filled with restaurants and shops. There's a movie theater. It’s a perfect place to spend an evening.

Type "Enfield, Connecticut" in WalkScore.com and you get a "0" – "almost all errands require a car." Middletown scores 30, and that's because of its downtown.

Where did Enfield go wrong?

Enfield had a walkable area: Thompsonville. But that era began fading in the 1950s. It had no hope of recovery once Bigelow-Sanford Mill closed its doors in 1971.

Enfield has toyed with the idea of re-making Thompsonville into a walkable area. Walkable means a place with shops, restaurants and stores. The town spent $2 million to restore the Freshwater Pond area. It created a village green space.

On Enfield's radar is a plan to restore the Enfield Station to serve the new CT Rail commuter line. That's scheduled for 2022. But it's a false hope to think that Thompsonville will ever become a destination site.

The problems identified in the Thompsonville Revitalization Action Plan remain. Its residents don't have a lot of purchasing power. Its rate of homeownership is low, and the area is seem as unsafe. There's limited parking. It's hard to imagine – under any scenario – Thompsonville becoming a destination. But Enfield already has a destination area.

The shopping center area from Elm Street to Hazard Avenue is Enfield's real "downtown."

But this shopping district has problems. First, there's no housing. Second, it is hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists. Third, the shopping centers exist as separate islands requiring a car to get from one to the other.

There aren't enough safe crossings. Pedestrian and bicycle safety was an afterthought. Most people – unless out of necessity – won't ride their bicycle into this area to run errands.

Pedestrians aren't even considered. It ought to be easy to walk from the mall to the Barnes & Noble shopping area, but this area is designed to make it as difficult.

Enfield's commercial and industrial park is devoid of any housing. Why not?

Enfield's shopping area has potential to be remade into an attractive and vital area. It can integrate housing, pedestrian and bicycle traffic into its commercial area. It can reimagine and create a new downtown.