Sandy Hook Industrial Park Approved By P&Z

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have unanimously approved Curtis Corporation’s plans to build an industrial park for commercial/light industrial development on its land adjacent to its Toddy Hill Road factory/warehouse complex.

The P&Z’s January 4 approval creates a 13-lot industrial subdivision on 49 acres, known as Curtis Corporate Park.

The land lies just south of the intersection of Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road. Curtis will retain the 13th lot of the subdivision for its existing factory/warehouse complex. A dead-end street, called Turnberry Lane, will extend eastward from Toddy Hill Road, providing access to the 12 lots envisioned for other companies’ industrial use. The new road will enter the property at the point where Newtown Sand and Gravel’s driveway meets Toddy Hill Road.

The development site is a mined-out sand and gravel quarry, which has been worked by Newtown Sand & Gravel. Curtis will donate Curtis Pond, a 10-acre dammed pond on the eastern edge of the site, to the Newtown Forest Association for passive recreation. Curtis also will give the association the dam that holds back the pond.

Curtis, a packaging materials manufacturer, uses the pond as a water source for fire protection. The pond was created about 155 years ago as a reservoir to power a waterwheel for a factory.

At an October public hearing, Curtis’ industrial park proposal drew heavy opposition from neighboring property owners who said the presence of such a facility would damage property values, jeopardize the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, and worsen traffic congestion in an already congested area.

Increased traffic would pose public safety hazards and travel delays, according to opponents. Opponents asked why Curtis had not performed a traffic study to learn what effect the development would have on area traffic flow. P&Z regulations, however, do not require traffic studies for such subdivisions. 

In September 1999, the P&Z turned down a similar industrial subdivision proposal from Curtis for the property. That proposal called for 10 lots, nine of which would have been building sites for other firms. P&Z members rejected that plan based on Curtis’ proposal to mine 111,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from the site. P&Z members then also rejected a related zone change request from Curtis.

The revised plans approved by the P&Z on January 4 call for regrading the property, but for no removal of earth materials from the site. The initial industrial subdivision proposal also had drawn heavy opposition from neighboring property owners.

The site lies within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area atop the Pootatuck Aquifer, a major underground source of drinking water. The P&Z expanded its controls over development in the APD in June 1999 to protect aquifer water quality. The expanded aquifer regulations prohibit the removal of earth materials from development sites in the APD, as a safeguard against aquifer contamination. The revised regulations greatly expand and more explicitly state the rules the P&Z uses to protect groundwater quality in the APD, including a long list of prohibited activities concerning potential aquifer pollutants.

In summarizing its review of the Curtis development proposal, GZA Geoenvironmental, Inc., a Vernon consulting firm hired by Curtis, has stated, “Our evaluation did not identify any significant impacts to groundwater quality or quantity that will occur as a result of the development of the proposed Curtis Corporate Park.”

In connection with the industrial subdivision, P&Z members January 4 also unanimously approved a change of zone requested by Curtis, which converts 7 acres of the 49 acres on the development site from F/R-1 Farming-Residential zoning to M-4 Industrial zoning. The other 42 acres of the site already had M-4 zoning.

P&Z Comments

In comments made before the P&Z vote on the industrial subdivision plans, P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano said each of the various firms which seeks to develop each of the 12 lots in the industrial subdivision will be required to meet the terms of P&Z’s strengthened aquifer protection regulations, as well as the town’s site development rules for the properties.

While Curtis’ initial application to subdivide the property involved the removal of 111,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel, the second version requires no removal of earth materials, Mr Fogliano noted, adding that Curtis has adjusted its development plans in light of the P&Z’s concerns. Curtis has adequately addressed the concerns which the P&Z had mentioned about the earlier development proposal, Mr Fogliano said in endorsing the development project.

The development plans which Curtis presented to the P&Z following the rejection of its initial proposal are much better plans, the P&Z chairman said.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow said she normally prefers that an applicant designate a buffer area on its property to shield adjacent properties from the development.

But in the case of the Curtis project, the presence of Curtis Pond, which is open space, and the presence of a conservation easement, will create an effective buffer zone between nearby residential properties and the industrial subdivision, she said.

P&Z member Lilla Dean said she has no objection to the development project now that Curtis does not plan to remove sand and gravel from the property.

The P&Z’s strengthened aquifer protection regulations prohibit the removal of sand and gravel from the APD in which the Curtis property is located.

Conditions

In approving the subdivision application, P&Z members placed some conditions on the project.

The developer must post a $335,000 performance bond to ensure that subdivision development work is completed.

Curtis must repair or rebuild the dam which holds back Curtis Pond before it turns over the dam and the pond to the Newtown Forest Association as open space. The improved dam must meet state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) dam safety standards before it is turned over to the association before the sale of the seventh lot of the subdivision.

Curtis must meet the various aquifer protection measures that were specified in a report by GZA Geoenvironmental. Those protection measures stem from the P&Z’s strengthened aquifer protection regulations.

 In approving Curtis’ application for a change of zone from F/R-1 Farming/Residential to M-4 Industrial, P&Z members decided that the zone boundary that had cut through the property posed difficulties in developing it for industrial uses. They also concluded that approving a zone change would allow Curtis to develop its property as a single project.

The zone change promotes local economic development, which is in the best interests of the town, according to the P&Z.

The zone change will not create a significant negative effect on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, P&Z members agreed.

 Also, P&Z members concluded that the change of zone is consistent with the town’s plan of conservation and development.

  Following the two votes, Mr Fogliano said that each site plan for each of the 12 lots to be developed by various firms in the industrial park will be reviewed for compliance with aquifer protection regulations. In that review process, the Conservation Commission makes recommendations to the P&Z.

Ms Winslow added that the P&Z will review the visual and noise aspects of the specific development which is proposed for each lot.

The subdivision lots range in size from 1 acre to 4.5 acres. The larger lots would have 10,000-square-foot buildings, while the smaller lots would have 5,000-square-foot buildings, according to Curtis. The actual size of the buildings, however, would depend on the specific plans approved for individual lots in the future.

The firms that buy the industrial lots are expected to erect steel-framed buildings with office building facades. The rear sections of some buildings would contain warehouse space. Each lot would have individual water wells and septic systems. Water from Curtis Pond would supply a fire protection system.

The town’s land use regulations allow a variety of uses in such an industrial park, including offices, publishing firms, shopping centers, plus various light industrial uses including manufacturing, packaging, bottling, assembly, wholesaling, and bulk storage, among others.