The Black Swan Gains Approval for Expansion Project

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved expansion and modernization plans for a growing local retail business, which has outgrown its current South Main Street quarters.

The P&Z on April 11 granted a special permit to Thomas Swan for the redevelopment of the 1.2-acre site at 182 South Main Street, where The Black Swan Hearth and Gift Shop plans to demolish its existing commercial structures and build, new larger, more elaborate facilities.

The Black Swan sells stoves, fireplaces, grills, accessories, and spare parts, plus decorative items. It also has an Internet-based business.

The P&Z approval allows the Black Swan to construct a 7,430-square-foot building and make related improvements at the site. The property is on the west side of South Main Street, just south of its intersection with Orchard Hill Road. The Black Swan lies across South Main Street from The Fraser-Woods School.

In 2005, Mr Swan received a change of zone from the P&Z, converting the property from its former zoning designation of R-2 (Residential) to B-1 (Business). The rezoning was a necessary preliminary step before the business could seek to expand its facilities on the site. Attorney Camille DeGalan represented the Black Swan before local land use agencies.

The site is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD) above the Pootatuck Aquifer, and thus is subject to many environmental protection restrictions. The Conservation Commission has endorsed the Black Swan redevelopment project.

The removal of the relatively small existing facilities on the site will allow the business to build a structure that would include a showroom, store, warehouse, office space, and open areas. The structure will have a partial second story. Parking would be provided for 24 vehicles.

Ms DeGalan told P&Z members at a recent session that the planned new building would be in architectural harmony with surrounding buildings. The town’s Design Review Board has examined the design plans for the project, making various recommendations, she said.

Resident Robert Hall of 5 Nettleton Avenue told P&Z members that he eventually hopes to move to a house at 8 Huntingtown Road that he has been improving. That property lies to the west of The Black Swan site.

Mr Hall urged that there be no nighttime illumination scattering onto his property from lighting fixtures on The Black Swan’s site.

On April 11, P&Z members unanimously voted to approve The Black Swan’s expansion and modernization project. The panel, however, placed many conditions on the approval, considering its location in the APD.

Among those conditions: the applicant must submit a set of environmental protection policies to the P&Z that would be followed on the site for the protection of the underlying aquifer; those policies must be posted on the site; waste handling on the site must be tightly controlled to prevent aquifer contamination; commercial vehicles and construction equipment must not be permanently stored or maintained outdoors; outdoor illumination on the site must comply with standards to prevent light pollution; and any commercial signs on the property must meet applicable zoning regulations.