Because visitors to The Playhouse have had problems tripping off of the small concrete platform right out front, the town is planning to install a railing at the platform’s edge.
The hope is that the railing will serve as a visual demarcation between the concrete and brick sidewalk below, according to Public Works Director Tiger Mann.
The railing itself also will be required by code with a new pedestrian ramp that’s going in on the right-hand side of the building, Mann said.
“We’re still having issues with some residents not navigating from the platform down to the brick sidewalk,” Mann told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting, held Tuesday at Town Hall and via videoconference. “They’re not able to understand from the concrete to the brick. We’re having a couple of tripping incidents. So we feel that this will hopefully help address that.”
The railing itself will be broken into two parts, allowing for the center opening onto the sidewalk.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson and Selectmen Steve Karl and Amy Murphy Carroll voted 3-0 in favor of a $24,183.50 contract with Stamford Forge to create and install the railing with the ramp.
The selectmen asked how long the railings will be (about four feet on the left-hand side, and longer on the right where the ramp is going), whether there’s a rendering of it (not yet), whether people are tripping while going in or out of the movie theater (unclear) and whether the town could use planters for the demarcation (already tried that, and benches).
Karl noted that the town has already marked part of the platform step and asked whether more markings are planned.
Mann said, “We’ve been avoiding marking the top. We’ve been marking the front edge because that’s what we were told that the majority of the problems were. So we marked the front edge with yellow tape. And we’ve been avoiding to mark the top only because it’s a very nice platform. It’s a beautiful structure and we’re hoping that this will then alleviate that. If not, then we’ll have to take another measure at that point.”
Karl said he understood the need for more work though it’s a shame because the front of The Playhouse looks so nice and clean as-is. Murphy Carroll said she understood why people were tripping.
“I actually think it makes sense,” she said. “It’s easy to miss.”
Mann said that if the problems continue following the railing installation, “we’ll take additional measures at that point.”
“Whether it’ll be a ‘watch your step’ or maybe a nosing on it to a different colored nosing so people would understand,” he said. “ But right now there is a differentiating shade of color. I think people are just so excited to either come to the building that they’re not necessarily paying attention to the step, that’s my feeling. Could be that they’re on their phone and they’re not paying attention to it.”
Carlson said that may be the issue.
“I’ve been in and out of that building a hundred times,” she said. “I’ve never had a problem with that step, but I get it, some people do.”