Aquifer Protection—

P&Z Hearing Continues On Proposed Parking Lot

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to resume a public hearing Thursday, November 1, on a proposal to construct a 139-space parking lot to provide expanded parking for an existing office building at the end of Turnberry Lane in the environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD).

The session is slated to start at 7:30 pm at Newtown Municipal Center at 3 Primrose Street.

Applicant Quickcomm, Inc, of 12 Turnberry Lane is seeking P&Z approval to modify a special zoning permit to allow parking lot construction. The site is in a M-4 (Industrial) zone in Curtis Corporate Park. P&Z members started the public hearing on October 18.

Quickcomm is located on the turnaround circle on Turnberry Lane, a dead end street that extends from Toddy Hill Road. The site is near the Quarry Ridge Estates residential subdivision and the Fir Tree Lane residential neighborhood.

In February 2007, the P&Z approved a proposal from TnT Partners, LLC, to construct the 24,600-square-foot office building for which the proposed parking lot is now being sought. That office building had a grand opening event in November 2008. Quickcomm is a telecommunications expense management firm.

The new parking lot is being sought because the number of vehicles driven by people working in the office building far exceeds the spaces available in the building’s existing 93-space parking lot. Consequently, workers have been parking some vehicles on Turnberry Lane, which is not designated for parking.

The town Aquifer Protection Agency (APA) has endorsed the parking lot construction project. At an October 10 session, the APA unanimously decided that the project would no significant adverse effect on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer.

Conservation Commission members, however, have detailed various concerns about whether the project would pose both aquifer-related and non-aquifer-related environmental issues.

Engineer Steve Trinkaus of Trinkaus Engineering, LLC, of Southbury, representing Quickcomm, told P&Z members at the October 18 hearing that an increase in staff at the office building requires that additional parking facilities be constructed, according to P&Z records. Mr Trinkaus described the project’s physical design.

Mr Trinkaus responded to various concerns raised about the project. He said that there would be no mining on the site, in response to Conservation Commission comments, according to P&Z records.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said October 24 she hopes that area residents attend the November 1 hearing to learn about the parking lot construction proposal.