Industrial Park Plan Revived

By Andrew Gorosko

Curtis Corporation is putting some finishing touches on its proposal for an industrial park envisioned for its 49-acre parcel in Sandy Hook, near the intersection of Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road.

Curtis’s proposal for a 13-lot industrial subdivision, and for a related change of zone for more than seven acres of that site from “residential” to “industrial” zoning, had been scheduled for a September 21 P&Z public hearing.

But the firm’s need to make some engineering changes to its proposal, known as Curtis Corporate Park, has resulted in a delay. The proposal is now scheduled to be the subject of a P&Z public hearing October 19.

The firm proposes cutting the 49-acre property into 13 lots. Twelve of the 13 lots would be sites for relatively small industrial firms, with factories projected to be 5,000 to 10,000 square feet in area. The 13th lot would hold the Curtis factory complex. The firm manufactures packaging materials.

Attorney Robert Hall, representing Curtis, told P&Z members September 21 that the engineering firm designing the project for Curtis was revising plans for the project, based on comments made by town officials. The revisions concern the site’s grading, he said. Mr Hall requested and received a time extension so that the grading revisions could be completed.

In September 1999, P&Z members rejected a 10-lot proposal for the site from Curtis, saying the project involved an excessive amount of gravel removal. P&Z members also then rejected a zone change request from Curtis from “residential” to “industrial,” covering three lots. P&Z members expressed concerns that Curtis proposed removing more than 111,000 cubic yards of earthen material from the site.

Curtis’s initial industrial subdivision proposal drew strong opposition from nearby residents. Issues raised by opponents concerned traffic volumes, underground water levels, the project’s effect on the Pootatuck Aquifer, noise, the project’s effect on wildlife, and diminished property values.

The site lies within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD).

Curtis had submitted its initial subdivision application in May 1999, before the P&Z’s new, stricter APD regulations took effect in June 1999. Those revised regulations greatly expand and more explicitly state the rules the P&Z uses to protect groundwater quality in the APD. The revised regulations prohibit gravel mining in the APD.

Following passage of the new aquifer regulations, Curtis was among several firms that sued the P&Z seeking to nullify the new prohibition on gravel mining in the APD, or to at least allow gravel mining with certain restrictions. The lawsuit claims that gravel mining in the APD does not pose a substantial threat to water quality in the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer. That suit is pending in court.

The revised industrial subdivision proposal, which Curtis has submitted to the P&Z, calls for the removal of more than 39,000 cubic yards of earthen material from the site, which lies to the south and southeast of the Curtis factory. Such removal of earthen material, however, is prohibited in the APD.

The proposed subdivision would have about 10 acres of open space. A dead end road off Toddy Hill Road called Turnberry Lane would serve it.