Office Building Hearing Scheduled To Resume

By Andrew Gorosko

The Borough Zoning Commission is scheduled to resume its public hearing on a controversial proposal to construct a 35,000-square-foot office building on the vacant corner of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard.

The hearing is slated to resume at 7 pm, Wednesday, May 14, at Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen Street. Commission members began the hearing on April 10.

Church Hill Partners, LLC, is expected to present additional information on its construction proposal to the commission. 

Boulevard residents have expressed concerns about the project. The three prime concerns raised by Boulevard residents at the April 10 public hearing focused on the additional traffic that would be generated by an office building in the heavily traveled area, the size of the office building, and the placement of the sole entry/exit driveway for the building on the residential Boulevard.

Church Hill Partners proposes a two-story office building, in what would be the most intensive commercial development project in the borough since the mid-1990s redevelopment of Newtown Shopping Village on Queen Street. The office building would house professional offices, some of which would be medical offices.

Church Hill Partners is seeking approval for construction of the building on the southwestern corner of a 4.4-acre site at 37 Church Hill Road, including an adjacent 161-space parking lot. The site, which is in a P-1 Professional zone, is across Church Hill Road from Starbucks Coffee.

The developer is seeking a “site development plan approval,” as well as a “special exception” to the borough zoning regulations to construct the building and related facilities.

The applicant has received a conditional approval for the project from the Conservation Commission, serving as the borough’s wetlands agency.

 The Police Commission, acting as the borough’s traffic authority, has recommended that a traffic signal be installed at the intersection of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard to alleviate traffic congestion, if an office building is constructed.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has raised concerns about the office building proposal regarding traffic safety, the size of the project, its architectural design, and vehicle parking.

The Economic Development Commission (EDC) has endorsed the proposal, provided that traffic signal installation is pursued.

A town engineering review of the development plans determined that the proposed office building would generate an estimated 1,216 vehicle trips per day. Church Hill Road in that area now has more than 15,000 vehicle trips daily.

Church Hill Partners’ office building proposal is a revised version of its similar informal proposal for the site that borough officials reviewed last fall. The earlier version called for a 39,260-square-foot building, plus 30 more parking spaces than the current proposal.