On July 7, at the close of a three-hour session comprised of two separate public hearings, during which Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members reviewed the design aspects of a Tractor Supply Company store proposed for 116 South Main Street (Route 25), a P&Z member said he wants the building's exterior design revised to bring its aesthetics into line with the South Main Village Design District (SMVDD) zoning regulations, created in 2007, which recommend structures that "support the New England character" of the South Main Street corridor. Two HearingsPublic Comment

As one example, P&Z member Jim Swift, who is the panel's vice chairman, said that a prominent red stripe that runs generally horizontally around the four sides of the proposed building is unattractive.

In reading from the SMVDD zoning regulations under which the building is proposed, Mr Swift said the structure does not meet the requirements of those rules.

Constructing the proposed 19,097-square-foot Tractor Supply building and an adjacent 15,053-square-foot fenced outdoor sales area would mean that "a nice residential lot would be gone" and replaced by a concrete-block structure, Mr Swift observed.

"It's not attractive," he said of the proposed complex. "I want the developer to come up with a design that meets the [SMVDD] regulations. It's just a block building that would be stuck on what was a nice field," Mr Swift said.

The 8.2-acre site holds an 1810 two-story Colonial-style house and multiple outbuildings that would be demolished to make way for Tractor Supply.

Tractor Supply, which is a major retail chain, sells merchandise including home improvement goods, livestock/pet-related products, hardware, tools, lawn and garden maintenance items, clothing, footwear, and automotive items.

In March, Tractor Supply received a town property tax break for locating a store in town, gaining endorsements for the tax reduction from the Board of Selectmen and the Legislative Council.

Mr Swift said that a structure which has flawed aesthetics should not be approved by the town for South Main Street. Brick could be employed as a building material in an improved store design, Mr Swift said.

Engineer James Cassidy, representing NERP Holding and Acquisitions Company, LLC, which is the applicant for the project, said that Tractor Supply Company employs a variety of architectural designs at its various stores. The applicant will review the design that it has submitted to the P&Z, he said.

Mr Swift said that the LMT Communications building at 84 South Main Street "looks really nice," in suggesting that Tractor Supply use barn siding as an exterior material in its design, as was done with the LMT structure.

LMT Communications, a magazine publisher, was the first firm to receive a zoning approval under the terms of the SMVDD zoning regulations. Other projects that have been created under SMVDD zoning are Walgreens Pharmacy at 49 South Main Street and Highland Plaza at 123 South Main Street.

Mr Swift said that he had not expected that the architectural drawings NERP presented to the P&Z last year, when it sought to change the zoning designation for the site from R-1 (Residential) to SMVDD, would represent the final version of the project.

Besides that change of zone, NERP in November 2015 received P&Z approval for Special Design District-4 (SDD-4) zoning regulations, which apply exclusively to the 116 South Main Street site.

Mr Swift said that if he had realized that the design proposal presented to the P&Z last year would essentially be the current design proposal, he would not have endorsed those SDD-4 zoning regulations.

P&Z Chairman Robert Mulholland commented that the applicant's staff will be reviewing the project's design in view of Mr Swift's comments.

P&Z members will be inspecting the site before the two public hearings on the applications resume, Mr Mulholland said.

Three of the P&Z's five regular members and one of its three alternate members attended the July 7 session on the Tractor Supply proposal.

The members held two public hearings on the application that night. One hearing concerned proposed changes to the SDD-4 zoning regulations. The other hearing involved a "site development plan review" of the project through which the applicant is seeking a special zoning permit.

At the first public hearing, Mr Mulholland asked attorney Robert Hall, representing NERP, about the status of a pending lawsuit, which challenges the P&Z's November 2015 approval of SMVDD/SDD-4 zoning for the project.

A firm known as 111 South Main Street, LLC, owns a one-acre parcel at that address that contains a commercial building housing Fair Auto Supply of Newtown, Inc, and Newtown Florist. After the P&Z granted the preliminary approvals for the Tractor Supply project last November, 111 South Main Street, LLC, filed an administrative appeal in Superior Court in seeking to overturn the P&Z approvals. That court appeal is pending.

Mr Hall said that legal briefs have been filed in the court case, which is now pending in Hartford Superior Court. The lawyers are scheduled to present legal arguments on July 27, he said.

Mr Hall told P&Z members that NERP's request to the P&Z to modify the SDD-4 zoning regulations, which were approved for the project by the P&Z last November, would not have an effect on the pending court appeal.

Among the requested zoning rule changes is a proposal from the applicant to allow Tractor Supply to have an internally lit sign at the site.

On that subject, Mr Swift expressed concerns that allowing Tractor Supply to have an internally lit sign would lead to such signs eventually becoming widespread in town.

At the second hearing on NERP's site development plan for the property, Mr Cassidy described in detail the developmental aspects of the proposal, especially stormwater drainage control.

Abutting resident Brian Nadro of 112 South Main Street raised questions about the development project's stormwater drainage possibly having adverse effects on his adjacent septic field.

Oscar Sampaio, an abutting resident at 120 South Main Street, said he wants the developer to install a stockade-style fence between his property and the store site for the sake of his privacy/security. Mr Sampaio raised concerns about whether the project would cause stormwater drainage problems at nearby properties, and voiced concerns about the traffic aspects of the project. He also asked about the nighttime lighting for the project.

Mr Swift said P&Z members will consider the issues raised by the neighbors when they are inspecting the development site.

"We understand what your concern is. We will look into it, as we walk the property," Mr Mulholland said.

George Benson, town planning director, said he considers the Tractor Supply stormwater control design to be the most extensive design of its type that he has seen in his 35 years of work in the land use field. The site has extensive wetlands, including a red maple swamp at its western section.

In June, NERP received a wetlands/watercourses protection permit for the project from the Inland Wetlands Commission.

The two P&Z public hearings on the project are scheduled to resume on July 21.