The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has rescheduled its initial public hearing on a requested wetlands/watercourses protection permit for a major industrial/commercial complex proposed for a sprawling site in Hawleyville, near Exit 9 of Interstate 84.

That hearing is now slated to be held at 7:30 pm, Wednesday, January 23, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street. Residents attending a January 9 IWC session learned that a wetlands specialist, who represents the developer, had taken ill and was not able to attend on January 9 to make a presentation, resulting in the postponement.

The proposed complex would be the largest project of its kind ever developed locally.

Developer Hawleyville Properties LLC proposes the construction of 583,500 square feet of enclosed space in four buildings at the approximately 136-acre site. The developer proposes the construction of four structures, including three warehouses and one medical office building, plus related parking lots. The proposed buildings would enclose about 13.4 acres of space.

The development site includes 10 Hawleyville Road, 90 Mount Pleasant Road, and 1 Sedor Lane. The steep, rugged terrain contains extensive wooded wetlands and areas with very dense to impenetrable brush.

The project would contain a 336,000-square-foot warehouse that would include 20,000 square feet of office space, a 137,500-square-foot warehouse that would include 10,000 square feet of office space, a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, and a three-story medical office building containing a total of 90,000 square feet of enclosed space.

The development proposal calls for creating large, relatively flat areas on the sloped site where the four buildings and associated parking lots would be built.

If the current version of the industrial/commercial project gains a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the IWC, it would also require approvals from the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z), among other agencies.