Planning & Zoning Poised To Act On Shopping Center Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

Following a six-month review of plans for a South Main Street shopping center, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are preparing to act on Plaza South, a proposed 68,000-square-foot retail complex, which would be the largest such facility to be built in Newtown in almost a decade.

TP Properties, LLC’s, development application has received a thorough review by P&Z members, as issues including traffic flow, public safety, environmental protection, aesthetics, and business competition have surfaced since an initial public hearing on the project last October.

The developer has responded to the many issues raised, and repeatedly modified its plans, in seeking P&Z approvals for the construction project. The once-controversial development proposal had drawn opposition from the owners of the adjacent Sand Hill Plaza, as well as from nearby residents.

“We’ve left no concern unaddressed,” attorney Ward Mazzucco, representing TP Properties, told P&Z members at an April 7 public hearing. “We believe that…this has met the requirements of the zoning regulations,” he added, in asking for the project’s approval.

P&Z discussion and possible action on the development application is scheduled for April 21.

TP Properties of Danbury wants to build a complex that would include a 64,000-square-foot main building, containing several unspecified tenants, plus a 4,000-square-foot adjacent building containing a bank.

The developer is proposing construction of Plaza South at 266-276 South Main Street, on the west side of that street, in the area lying between Sand Hill Plaza and Cold Spring Road. The 12.35-acre site has M-6 (Industrial) zoning. The sloped property is a former sand-and-gravel mine. The proposed intersection of Plaza South’s driveway, South Main Street, and Button Shop Road would be controlled by a traffic signal.

At the April 7 hearing, P&Z members received a letter from United Water Connecticut, stating that the construction proposal would not negatively affect the public utility’s nearby wellfield above the Pootatuck Aquifer. The water company’s wellhead is on the east side of South Main Street, across South Main Street from the northern entrance to Sand Hill Plaza.

 The water company supplies drinking water to central Newtown, as well as along water lines extending northward into Hawleyville and southward toward Botsford.

In an April 7 letter to the P&Z, United Water Manager Kevin Moran wrote, “We have learned from our consulting firm that the plans put forward for the proposed [Plaza South] project will not have a negative impact on the United Water Connecticut wellfield. We therefore do not have any objection to this project being constructed.”

At a March 17 public hearing, P&Z members had said the water firm would review whether the project would endanger the local public water supply.

Traffic Issues

In an April 1 letter to TP Properties, John F. Carey, manager of traffic engineering for the state Department of Transportation (DOT), wrote that several years ago, the DOT conducted a study on the need for a new traffic signal at the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road, and had determined that a traffic signal is not needed there.

During the course of the P&Z’s six-month review of Plaza South, some residents had urged that a traffic signal be installed at that intersection, in view of Middle Gate School’s presence on Cold Spring Road. Motorists, including school bus drivers, exiting Cold Spring Road onto South Main Street encounter difficult traffic conditions when making turns there.

Also, Mr Carey wrote that a southbound, uphill right-turn-only lane for South Main Street traffic entering the Plaza South driveway is unnecessary. That decision is based on traffic volumes, road geometry, and travel speeds in the area, he noted.

Some P&Z members had suggested creating such a turning lane to keep traffic flowing smoothly on southbound South Main Street.

TP Properties has agreed to provide the DOT with an easement to allow for possible future road improvements along the southbound lanes of South Main Street in front of the complex.

Also, Mr Carey recommended that the proposed new traffic signal for the Plaza South entrance be synchronized with the existing traffic signal lying about 1,050 feet to the north. That signal controls traffic at the northern entrance of Sand Hill Plaza at 228 South Main Street.

Mr Carey recommended against synchronizing the proposed new traffic signal for Plaza South with the existing traffic signal lying about 2,900 feet to the south, which controls traffic at the intersection of South Main Street, Meadow Brook Road, and Botsford Hill Road.

Considering the relatively long distance of 2,900 feet between two such traffic signals, the traffic signal for the intersection of South Main Street, Meadow Brook Road, and Botsford Hill Road would operate more effectively if it is not synchronized with the proposed Plaza South traffic signal, according to Mr Carey.

In response to safety concerns expressed by some parents of Middle Gate School students, TP Properties would pay for the installation of specialized flashing signs on South Main Street, near Cold Spring Road, indicating that the area is a “reduced speed zone” during school hours.

Also, as requested by the town’s public works and engineering departments, TP Properties has agreed to cover the costs of designing and constructing a widened Cold Spring Road at its intersection with South Main Street to provide separate left-turn and right-turn lanes for vehicles leaving Cold Spring Road and entering South Main Street, according to Mr Mazzucco.

Aesthetic Aspects

After much discussion, the developer and nearby residents have reached an agreement concerning what constitutes suitable landscaping intended to visually screen the project from residents living in the Cold Spring Road area.

Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road, who has represented some residents living near the development site, told P&Z members at the April 7 hearing that those residents and the developer have reached a landscaping agreement. The residents sought to ensure that their area would retain its “wooded Newtown character” in the face of a new shopping center, according to Ms Curran.

“I am pleased to report that we have reached an agreement that we feel will give us the protection we need, and does not interfere with the developer’s plans,” Ms Curran told P&Z members.

That agreement, generally, concerns creating a suitable buffered plateau of existing mature trees and new trees lying between the shopping center and Cold Spring Road.

Nearby residents plan to monitor the planting of new trees and also view the developer’s inspection of the trees after they are in the ground for one year. The developer plans to maintain the trees for three years.

Also, the developer agreed that the shopping center would never have an entryway from Cold Spring Road, Ms Curran said.

In view of the developer’s various concessions to the nearby residents, Ms Curran said the residents support the shopping center construction proposal.

The developer initially had proposed a truck loading dock for the corner of the shopping center’s main building nearest Cold Spring Road. In response to opposition, the developer then relocated the proposed loading dock to an opposite corner of the building farther away from Cold Spring Road. The developer later redrew plans, eliminating the loading dock and replacing it with a proposed garbage-container storage area.

Other Concerns

At a past public hearing, Sand Hill Plaza representatives had expressed concerns about Plaza South’s potential negative effects on Sand Hill Plaza, including stormwater drainage flow. Sand Hill Plaza lies downslope of the Plaza South site.

In view of Sand Hill Plaza’s various concerns, TP Properties has agreed that Plaza South would not contain any grocery store, or any food preparation business, that exceeds 2,000 square feet in floor area. Also, the developer has agreed that Plaza South would not contain any individual business that would discharge more than 2,000 gallons of wastewater daily.

TP Properties also has agreed that it would build and maintain its septic waste disposal system and its stormwater drainage system in accordance with “good engineering practice.”

Attorney Keri Olson, representing Sand Hill Plaza, has said that Sand Hill Plaza is willing in the future to discuss a possible driveway interconnection between Sand Hill Plaza and Plaza South, after it is known which businesses would occupy Plaza South.

Some P&Z members had urged that the two shopping centers be interconnected by an internal driveway to reduce traffic pressure on South Main Street.

Additionally, during the P&Z’s Plaza South review, some residents and some P&Z members had urged that all traffic entering and leaving Plaza South be channeled through Sand Hill Plaza’s two existing driveways. 

The approximately 160,000-square-foot Sand Hill Plaza, which has been in operation for about 15 years, has a Super Stop & Shop supermarket as its prime tenant.