Dairy Warehouse Proposal Under Town Review

By Andrew Gorosko

Town officials are reviewing a proposal from Marcus Dairy, Inc, of Danbury to build a refrigerated warehouse for dairy products and also modify an existing building at 352 South Main Street for use by the firm as a dairy distribution center.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) was scheduled to conduct a public haring on the proposal on the night of Thursday, December 4, after the deadline for this edition of The Bee.

The firm is seeking a special permit from the P&Z to build a dairy distribution center at the 8.6-acre site. The property is on the west side of South Main Street, at the Monroe town line.

Claris Construction, Inc of Newtown is the applicant for the construction project, representing property owner Andrew Julian. The property holds a cellular telecommunications tower.

Engineers for the project presented details on the site layout and traffic flow to members of the Police Commission on December 2. The Police Commission is the town’s traffic authority.

Civil engineer Bill Carboni, of Spath-Bjorklund Associates, told commission members that the dairy distribution center would be constructed on the site, which has been used as a concrete plant.

 An existing building on the site would be modified for use by the dairy company and a new 16,200-square-foot refrigerated warehouse for dairy storage would be constructed, he said. There would be no dairy processing equipment at the site, he said.

The property would be paved for vehicular use, he said. The existing driveway leading to the site would remain at its current location. The sight lines for drivers exiting the driveway would be improved as a traffic safety measure, he said. The property also would hold office space for the dairy firm.

Traffic engineer Michael Galante, of Frederick P. Clark Associates, described traffic flow in the area to Police Commission members.

Mr Galante said the applicant does not propose a traffic signal for the driveway entrance to the site because the state Department of Transportation (DOT) likely would not approve such a signal there due to relatively low traffic volumes on Swamp Road, which lies across South Main Street from the driveway.

Mr Carboni said that the site, which lies at the base of a slope, is well shielded from residences in the area.

Activity at the site would include dairy trucks entering and leaving the property, bringing goods to be stored there, and later delivering those goods to various locations in the region.

Following review of the traffic plans for the project, Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat said, “We’re comfortable with it. You can tell [P&Z] that.”