Retail Growth—

Plaza South Developer Revises Shopping Center Design

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are reviewing a developer’s revised design plans for Plaza South, a 68,000-square-foot shopping center proposed for a site directly south of Sand Hill Plaza on South Main Street.

P&Z members reviewed the design changes at a July 20 public hearing. Action on the project is expected at an upcoming session.

Agency members’ concerns about potential traffic flow problems stemming from a Plaza South building layout, which was presented by the developer at a July 6 public hearing, prompted the applicant to rework the plans with an eye toward improving the traffic flow on the 12.35-acre site at 266-276 South Main Street.

Architect/engineer Peder Scott, representing Plaza South, LLC, told P&Z members that he had reconfigured the building layout on the site to address issues that were raised about traffic flow stemming from the presence of a bank building.

The revised plans would allow traffic to flow more smoothly on the site, according to Mr Scott. The unidentified bank has endorsed the revised plans, he said.

Plaza South, LLC, is seeking to modify its 2005 P&Z special permit to construct the complex on a site on the west side of South Main Street, just south of Sand Hill Plaza and north of Cold Spring Road. Plaza South would be the largest shopping center to be constructed in Newtown in a decade.

The site has M-6 (Industrial) zoning. The wooded, sloped property is a former sand-and-gravel mine. The site is in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD).

The planned intersection of Plaza South’s driveway, South Main Street, and Button Shop Road would be controlled by a four-way traffic signal.

The applicant had received P&Z approval in April 2005 to construct a 68,000-square-foot complex, but never built that project, and is now seeking P&Z approval for a reconfiguration of the approved plan.

The initial version of Plaza South that received P&Z approval included two buildings — one 64,000-square-foot structure that would contain multiple large tenant spaces, plus a separate 4,000-square-foot bank building.

The current proposal involves the construction of four buildings with smaller tenant spaces. The applicant proposes that the previously approved 64,000-square-foot building be reconfigured as three buildings containing 32,000 square feet, 17,000 square feet, and 15,000 square feet of space, respectively. A 4,000-square-foot bank also would be constructed.

The developer has not disclosed the identities of potential tenants. The site could hold up to 18 tenants, plus a bank.

P&Z Comments

P&Z member Robert Mulholland said the revised shopping center layout provides better bank-related traffic flow on the site than did the previously proposed plans.

P&Z member Dennis Bloom raised issues about the ease with which tractor-trailer truck drivers would be able to navigate the site to make deliveries.

Attorney Camille DeGalan, representing the developer, noted that the applicant has submitted to the P&Z a conditional agreement that was reached between the Plaza South developer and the owners of the adjacent Sand Hill Plaza concerning the eventual construction of an interconnecting private driveway between Plaza South and Sand Hill Plaza. P&Z members have pressed the owners of both sites to create such an interconnecting driveway to relieve traffic pressure on the congested South Main Street.

P&Z member Lilla Dean inquired about the placement of waste dumpsters at the Plaza South site. “I just hope you have enough dumpster space,” she told Mr Scott.

The site design is “tight,” she said, adding that the plaza’s future tenants must abide by the complex’s various rules to make the project workable.

The site must have attractive plantings, she said, in light of the property’s high visibility to northbound motorists on South Main Street, she said. The corner of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road functions as a visual gateway for those entering Newtown from the south, she said.

Mr Scott said the developer would meet the various signage rules that the P&Z enforces concerning commercial signs.

The shopping center would contain 340 parking spaces.

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

In early 2004, the Plaza South applicant had sought to revise the zoning regulations regarding maximum store sizes in order to allow individual stores within shopping centers to occupy up to 60,000 square feet of floor space.

P&Z members, however, rejected that request, letting stand an existing 40,000-square-foot size limit on individual stores within shopping centers. P&Z members had approved that 40,000-square-foot size limit in 1996, a move that has deterred large-store retailers from seeking local quarters.