For South Main St. –

Shopping Center Proposed

By Andrew Gorosko

A development firm is proposing construction of a 70,000-square-foot shopping center on South Main Street in Botsford, near the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road.

In an application submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), TP Properties, LLC, of Danbury proposes that 70,000 square feet of commercial space be constructed on a 12.35-acre site on the west side of South Main Street, just south of Sand Hill Plaza. The sloped site lies across South Main Street from Button Shop Road.

The land, which is in an M-6 (Industrial) zone, has the street address of 266-276 South Main Street. The site is vacant. It formerly was a sand and gravel mine. The application lists Mary Samperi and Shirley Close as the owners of the site.

The name of the proposed complex is Sand Hill Plaza South. It would hold 355 parking spaces.

The 70,000 square feet of space would include 66,000 square feet of store space and a separate 4,000-square-foot bank with drive-up banking facilities.

A driveway would link the shopping center to South Main Street. The shopping center driveway would be located across South Main Street from Button Shop Road. The four-way intersection would be controlled by a traffic signal. Northbound and southbound left-turn lanes would be created on South Main Street.

The developer’s application does not propose any changes for the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road. Middle Gate School is located on Cold Spring Road.

The P&Z has scheduled a public hearing on TP Properties’ application for a “special exception” to the zoning regulations for October 7.

The project has obtained a wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission, serving as the town’s wetlands agency.

The property lies within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), above the Pootatuck Aquifer. The APD is used to strictly regulate growth in that environmentally sensitive area. The project would require an aquifer protection review by the Conservation Commission and an aquifer protection approval by the P&Z.

The applicant points out that the maximum size of any single store within the proposed shopping center would be 40,000 square feet, which is the size limit allowed by the zoning regulations.

Last March, attorney Ward Mazzucco, representing the applicant, sought to have the P&Z relax its retail store-size limit to allow single businesses as large as 60,000 square feet to locate in shopping centers.   

In April, the P&Z unanimously turned down Mr Mazzucco’s request, keeping the size limit at 40,000 square feet. P&Z members decided that allowing larger stores would adversely affect the community’s character.

Had the retail size limit been increased to 60,000 square feet, it would have opened the way for development applications from a class of merchants whose “big box” stores have been excluded from town since 1996 due to the zoning regulations’ store size restrictions.

United Water would extend public water service to the proposed shopping center. The shopping center would have a private wastewater disposal system. The developer proposes shopping center occupancy by early 2006.

In the development application, TP Properties states that the project would enhance the commercially developed area and would not have significant effects on the neighborhood. 

Mr Mazzucco said September 21 said the developer is in talks with a bank that is interested in locating an office at the proposed shopping center. He said that because there is 40,000-square-foot size limit on single stores in such a complex, it is unlikely that any supermarket would be interested in locating there.

It is yet unclear which businesses would locate in the proposed shopping center, he said.

Mr Mazzucco said having a new shopping center in place on South Main Street would make for “a very significant boost to the tax base without any significant demand on the town infrastructure,” thus representing a form of economic development.

A new facility also would provide residents with more local shopping choices, he said.