Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Botsford-Post-Office

Full Text:

P&Z Clears The Way For A New Botsford PO

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved the construction of

a new Botsford post office at the intersection of Botsford Hill Road and South

Main Street.

The postal substation would replace the outmoded Botsford post office on South

Main Street, just north of Blue Spruce Drive. P&Z members approved the plans

for the new building December 3.

On November 19, P&Z members had asked that town technical staff members

further review the post office proposal before action was taken.

In approving the project, P&Z members required that the owners provide a means

for fire department members to easily enter the building in the event of an

emergency, and that more landscaping than initially planned be provided in an

area lying between a parking lot and South Main Street.

Applicants John and Nanci Kalas of 6 Avalon Way plan construction of a

3,500-square-foot post office building on a 3.1-acre parcel on the northeast

corner of Botsford Hill Road and South Main Street. The land lies in B-1 and

R-« zones. The vacant property at the busy intersection is currently covered

with dense brush and small trees.

The post office will have 24 parking spaces. Postal patrons will have access

to the facility from a driveway off Botsford Hill Road, about 320 feet east of

the intersection of Botsford Hill Road and South Main Street.

The applicants state they anticipate the presence of a new post office will

have no adverse effect on property values in the neighborhood.Thirty-six

people own real estate within 500 feet of the development site.

There will be a maximum seven employees in the post office. Landscape

plantings will include maple, azalea, white pine, and Bradford pear.

I.K. Chann Associates, of Wilton, a traffic engineering firm, analyzed how a

new post office would affect traffic flow in the area.

"The proposed post office building can be very satisfactorily accommodated in

terms of traffic operations and safety, and will have no adverse impact on

Botsford Hill Road and the nearby Route 25/Botsford Hill Road/Meadow Brook

Road intersection," Mr Chann wrote in his traffic analysis.

A four-way, red-yellow-green traffic signal was installed at the intersection

several years ago to better regulate traffic flow in the heavily-traveled

area.

State Department of Transportation (DOT) traffic counts performed at the

intersection in 1995 show that South Main Street carries 16,400 vehicles daily

and Botsford Hill Road carries 3,800 vehicles daily, according to Mr Chann.

A new post office will generate approximately the same number by vehicle trips

daily as the existing post office, according to the traffic engineer. The

existing post office generates about 48 vehicle trips during the peak morning

traffic hour and generates about 97 vehicle trips during the peak afternoon

traffic hour, according to the traffic report.

Motorists leaving the post office's driveway will have "excellent" sight lines

toward oncoming traffic, according to Mr Chann.