Date: Fri 23-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Renzulli-Norwalk-Route-34

Full Text:

with cut: Norwalk Man Hopes To Develop Route 34 Properties

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Twenty years ago Carmine Renzulli had some money to invest and had to decide

where to put it.

"I figured I could either buy stock and depend on other people to control my

money or buy land for capital appreciation," he said.

Land in the Norwalk area where he lived, and in most of lower Fairfield

County, was too expensive, he decided. But there was a 35-acre site available

on Church Hill Road in Newtown. The land was sandwiched between I-84 and

Walnut Tree Hill Road and extended to the backyards of homes on Evergreen

Road.

"It was owned by Corinne Honegger, who lived in Switzerland at the time," Mr

Renzulli, 66, said. "Originally it was maybe 55 acres but some was taken by

the state for I-84. It was a big, attractive piece of land."

Mr Renzulli and his two brothers bought the land in 1976. He took sole

ownership of it two years later, and in the succeeding years bought another

lot on Church Hill Road and three pieces of property on Berkshire Road (Route

34) in Sandy Hook, including a two-acre lot on the corner of Route 34 and Mile

Hill Road adjacent to Jenner Stadium at Newtown High School.

Recently large signs with Mr Renzulli's telephone number in Norwalk were

erected on each of the properties, creating the impression in the minds in

many passersby that the land is for sale. The land isn't for sale, Mr Renzulli

said. Instead, he wants to develop it.

"I'm looking to develop the properties in something like a joint venture and

lease arrangement," he explained. "I'm open to proposals."

Many people, including some town officials, didn't realize that the lot near

Jenner Stadium didn't belong to the town. Mr Renzulli bought the lot in 1981

for $35,000 from Mary J. Dyer of Danbury and the estate of William D. Murphy.

Zoned industrial, it extends 450 feet along Mile Hill South and 200 feet along

Route 34.

"It's zoned M-5 industrial which means it also can be used for retail shops,

personal service shops - such as a convenience (food) store - banks, and

professional offices," Mr Renzulli said. "It would be a great location for a

gas station but you probably couldn't put one there because it would be over

the aquifer and too close to the wells that service the high school."

Mr Renzulli said the land may be wet, but it isn't an important wetlands and

he doesn't anticipate a problem getting approval to fill in the corner.

Conservation Director David Thompson doesn't agree. "I would say the

likelihood is virtually slim to none, but the final decision is up to the

(conservation) commission," Mr Thompson said this week.

Other Properties

Across Berkshire Road, next to the Foreign Car Service, Mr Renzulli owns a

4.64-acre lot which he bought in 1982 for $86,000. It includes a small white

house where, until recently, DGR Contracting was located, and a NYNEX cellular

phone tower in one corner of the property. Mr Renzulli said he has rented the

house to an electrician from Danbury but is still looking to develop part or

all of the property. Zoned B-3, which allows such uses as banks and offices,

the entire property is assessed on the 1996 Grand List at $204,450.

On the same side of the road, closer to Sandy Hook Center, Mr Renzulli owns

1.9 acres of land at No 3 Berkshire Road which he bought from the state of

Connecticut in 1978 for $38,110. The parcel, which was once part of the old

town dump, has 265 feet of frontage on Route 34 and extends 661 feet along

I-84. It's zoned one-acre residential but Mr Renzulli sees it as potentially

valuable for business. He, and other property owners along the south side of

Berkshire Road, asked the Planning & Zoning Commission several years ago to

change their properties to B-2 (less restrictive business zoning) but the

application was denied.

In 1987 Mr Renzulli bought a 2.88-acre parcel at 70 Church Hill Road next to

what was then Gulick Antiques for $135,000 from Kenneth M. Anderson of

Stratford. The property, which has 463 feet of frontage, is zoned half-acre

residential.

"I could put four houses on that property now that both water and sewer are

going right by in front," Mr Renzulli said. "But I think it would be ideal for

something commercial like a McDonald's restaurant or a Dunkin Donuts. Both

sides of the road should be commercial because they have easy access to both

Church Hill Road and I-84."

The 35 acres on the opposite side of Church Hill Road includes about 25 acres

which is zoned for half-acre residential development and 10 acres zoned

one-acre residential. There's a rental house and barn on Church Hill Road and

a piece of the land off Walnut Tree Hill Road which was used for a pump

station for the Iroquois pipeline. Between the rental property and the gas

line easement, Mr Renzulli said he has earned back what he originally spent on

the land. But he has long envisioned a major store, such as Walmart, on the

site and likes to point out that a large tenant would produce a substantial

amount of tax revenue for the town. Last month he spoke against the decision

by the Planning & Zoning Commission to limit stores to less than 40,000 square

feet in Newtown.

Affordable Housing

According to the Plan of Development, the land east of I-84 on Church Hill

Road will remain residential. Town officials don't anticipate that will

change. But Mr Renzulli isn't discouraged.

"If I can't get a store in there, I want affordable housing," he said. "People

should have a decent place to live."

According to the affordable housing regulations, Mr Renzulli doesn't have

enough frontage on a state road to qualify. But he sees that as a minor

obstacle.

"With P&Z approval, I could widen Walnut Tree Hill Road and put in a traffic

light," he said.

There's enough frontage along Walnut Tree Hill Road to put in 10 houses, he

said. "I could probably get a total of 30 houses in there. But I have

absolutely no plans for residential development. It will be either commercial

or affordable housing."

A Norwalk resident, Mr Renzulli and his brothers own a shopping center, the

Food Emporium Plaza, on Westport Road across from Pepperidge Farm, plus the

Annie Sez building (an upscale women's clothing store) and the Garden Estates,

a mobile home trailer park where he lives.

"I was born on the land where I live," Mr Renzulli said. "My father came from

Italy and got a job as a laborer in Greenwich. Two years later he brought over

my mother, two sons and a daughter."

"Our house was in the back of the property and in front, from 1930s to the

1950s, there was a gasoline station. It's now Annie Sez," Mr Renzulli said.

While renovating a liquor store in the Food Emporium Plaza, Carmine Renzulli

wound up with extra lumber which he used to fashion the signs which he erected

in Newtown and Sandy Hook.

"I bought a stencil to paint the signs and they turned out pretty good," he

said. "But they're nothing like what my oldest brother could do - he was an

artist and sign painter. In 1945, a few months after he returned from serving

in World War II, he and my father were killed in an automobile accident. He

was just 25 years old."

Despite the obstacles to his plans in Newtown, Mr Renzulli says he is still

optimistic.

"I'm willing to share with the town - to do whatever it takes," he said. "I

won't go around with a big stick. The town says it needs commercial

development to help the tax base. I have the land. So right now I'm looking to

develop it through joint venures and lease arrangements."