The Planning and Zoning Commission is currently engaging in a strangely inverted process of overseeing a development proposal for the area of Exit 10 at Church Hill, Edmond, and Commerce Roads. Instead of receiving a specific and detailed development plan — in this case for commercial uses — it has received a proposal for a “design district” that will eventually contain those new, but still undisclosed, commercial uses.

So far, here’s what the commissioners and the rest of us know: it could be a restaurant or restaurants with outdoor service and drive-thru, but with no outdoor entertainment; there could be financial institutions with or without drive-thru windows; and while originally it could also include a hotel or conference center, it no longer does. We know that, while clearly bigger than a breadbox, the restaurants will be no larger than 2,500 square feet, which rules out a McDonalds, which typically run 4,000 square feet. We also know that the town’s economic development coordinator believes that it will be a “great opportunity” for Newtown and will offer “quite a few benefits” for the community no matter what it is because, well, it’s development.

Solli Engineering, LLC, of Monroe, which is proposing this design district, clearly has some actual, and not conceptual, businesses in mind for Exit 10, but the process the P&Z is now following allows it to customize the zone for its plans without saying what those plans are. So when the time comes for the commission to look at specifics, they will, by virtue of the zone’s custom fit, be required to approve it — subject to review by the town’s Design Advisory Board, which will make sure the landscaping is nice and the HVAC systems are screened.

In the meantime, specifics are conspicuously absent from this emerging development plan. The engineering firm won’t say who its clients are and just last week informed the commission it didn’t even know the acreage of the proposed design district. The P&Z said it at least wanted to see the lot lines of the separate parcels in the district to help it out with this guessing game.

Since the Planning and Zoning public hearing on this design district proposal is still open and will continue next Thursday, we encourage townspeople with questions and ideas to assist the commission in this demanding challenge of discernment by showing up at the hearing on October 1 at the Municipal Center.