Retail Complex—

P&Z Approves Smaller Version Of Plaza South

By Andrew Gorosko

Following an April 2 public hearing, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members approved modified development plans for Plaza South at 266 South Main Street in Botsford, endorsing a much smaller retail complex for the site than the P&Z had approved in August 2006.

On April 2, the P&Z approved a three-building commercial complex that would enclose 24,500-square feet of space on the southern section of the site. In August 2006, the P&Z had endorsed a 68,000-square-foot retail center, including four buildings.

The 12.35-acre property lies north of South Main Street’s intersection with Cold Spring Road and south of Sand Hill Plaza. The land is in an industrial zone. It is the site of a former sand-and-gravel mine.

The planned entrance to the site is on the west side of South Main Street, across from Button Shop Road. That entrance will be controlled by a four-way traffic signal.

The planned project has undergone a variety of design changes during the past several years. The project initially was approved in April 2005. The P&Z modified that approval at the developer’s request in August 2006, and again in December 2007.

The property has undergone some site development, with the positioning of towering piles of earthen materials. No buildings have yet been constructed.

P&Z members set several conditions on their approval for Plaza South.

A temporary protective chain-link fence must be installed along the southwestern corner of the excavated site to serve as a barrier to prevent people from tumbling down very steep slopes there. The steep slopes are adjacent to a section of Cold Spring Road near Middle Gate School, which is an elementary school.

Along the section of Cold Spring Road near the site, the condition of existing hardwood trees must be evaluated in seeking to preserve those trees and incorporate them into a buffer zone of new trees to be planted there to obscure the view of the shopping center from residential Cold Spring Road.

Downsizing

Applicant Plaza South, LLC, asked the P&Z to approve a smaller version of Plaza South in light of the current economic downturn, and also due to the firm’s not having obtained a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approval for a wastewater treatment facilities for the larger version of Plaza South.

The area does not have sanitary sewers and is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD) above the Pootatuck Aquifer. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies.

At the public hearing, engineer Michael Lillis, of CCA, LLC, representing Plaza South, LLC, told P&Z members that the applicant had attempted to get DEP approval for wastewater treatment at the site.

With the project’s reduced size, review of wastewater treatment facilities for the site will now be in the town health department’s jurisdiction.

Tenants planned for the complex include The Learning Experience, which is a preschool and day care facility; a bank; a nail salon; a barber; and a restaurant.

Unused land at the site would hold a vegetation cover until it is decided how to develop that property, Mr Lillis said.

P&Z member Dennis Bloom noted that the very steep rear slopes at the site present a falling hazard for children at the nearby Middle Gate School. Mr Bloom urged that fencing be installed there. “That’s one big drop-off,” he said.

Portable chain-link fencing can be positioned atop the steep slope as a safety measure, Mr Lillis said.

The type of permanent fencing that would eventually be installed atop the steep slopes would be specified by the town’s building code, said P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean.

Resident Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road said a major concern of nearby residents has been to provide visual screening at the site to obscure its view from the neighborhood.

Ms Curran discussed in detail with the applicant how a visual buffer containing trees would be positioned between Cold Spring Road and the site.

“This is the entrance to our neighborhood and that’s why the trees matter to us,” she said.

Attorney Peter Scalzo, representing the applicant, said that the height of the buildings planned for the site would remain unchanged.

In unanimously approving the application, P&Z members decided that the project is consistent with the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

Also, P&Z members decided that the design meets the requirements of a special permit and is consistent with the provisions of the site’s industrial zoning.

Future plans for the property may include dividing the site to allow the northern section of the property to be developed by another business entity or owner.

In the future, the developers may seek to divide the property through the Special Design District (SDD) provisions of the South Main Village Design District (SMVDD) zoning regulations.