Plaza South—

Residents Urge Changes To Shopping Center Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

Botsford residents concerned about the potential negative side effects of a 70,000-square-foot shopping center proposed for a site near the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road are urging the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) to reject the application and have the developer return with scaled-down plans, which the residents say would have less impact on the area.

Those residents aired their concerns at a December 2 P&Z public hearing held on TP Properties, LLC’s, proposal to build 70,000 square feet of commercial space on a 12.35-acre site in a M-6 (Industrial) zone at 266-276 South Main Street. The sloped, vacant former sand and gravel mine is on the west side of South Main Street, just north of that street’s intersection with Cold Spring Road.

Initially known as Sand Hill Plaza South, the project is now known as Plaza South. The project would house multiple stores and a bank.

Last March, the applicant had 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. But in April, the P&Z unanimously turned down that 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.

Under the development proposal, a traffic signal would be positioned at a four-way intersection created by a shopping center driveway, Button Shop Road, and South Main Street. Northbound and southbound left-turn-only lanes would be created on South Main Street at the intersection.

At an initial October public hearing, residents living near the South Main Street site raised a variety of concerns, involving traffic, landscaping, and architecture, in urging that the P&Z carefully review those matters in considering the construction proposal.

After the October hearing, project opponents circulated a petition that drew about 50 signatures. That petition urges that the application be rejected.

At the December 2 P&Z session, residents urged that the proposal be reworked to minimize negative effects on the neighborhood.

On December 7, the developer explained the traffic-flow aspects of the project to the Police Commission, which serves as the town’s traffic authority. The Police Commission endorsed the traffic aspects of the project.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat urged that the phasing of the proposed traffic signal be coordinated with the phasing of existing traffic signals positioned on South Main Street at nearby Sand Hill Plaza, and also at the intersection of South Main Street, Meadow Brook Road, and Botsford Hill Road.

Due to statutory limits concerning the amount of time that the P&Z is allotted to review and act on such development applications, the developer may need to withdraw the current P&Z application and resubmit a new application.

Opposition

At the December 2 P&Z session, Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road, speaking on behalf of Cold Spring Road, Kay Lane, and Washbrook Road residents, urged the P&Z to reject the shopping center application.

“Let the developer come back with a plan for a smaller shopping center that respects the residential neighbors’ reasonable right to have the existing trees as a buffer between them and the shopping center, a plan that includes real research and effort for a safer alternative entrance, a plan that the residents, who are the future [customers] of this center, can agree with and approve,” she said.

“We think that the problem really is that this applicant wants too much building on too little space…This shopping center should be smaller,” she said.

Attorney Keri Olson, representing the owners of Sand Hill Plaza, said TP Properties has not provided the P&Z with enough information to decide whether to grant the firm a special exception to the zoning regulations for shopping center construction.

Ms Olson also questioned the viability of a large-scale septic waste disposal system proposed for the shopping center. She raised concerns about the project’s effect on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer and on groundwater quality in the area.

“There’s just not enough information for us an abutting property owner,” Ms Olson said.

Ms Olson said Sand Hill Plaza’s owners have not had sufficient time to review a proposed driveway, which would link the two adjacent shopping centers.

Michael Krafcsik of 279 South Main Street objected to the developer’s traffic design concerning northbound traffic on South Main Street. Mr Krafcsik said, “It’s not going to work,” predicting that there would be many rear-end collisions due to the presence of a traffic signal there.

Suzanne Zimmerman of 20 Pine Tree Hill Road, representing the Middle Gate School PTO, said the presence of a shopping center would pose traffic safety issues for Middle Gate School. Ms Zimmerman said it would become more difficult for motorists to make a left turn from Cold Spring Road onto northbound South Main Street. Middle Gate School is on Cold Spring Road.

Traffic should enter Plaza South from the existing driveway entrances at Sand Hill Plaza, not from a new entrance on South Main Street across from Button Shop Road, she said.

Ms Zimmerman also asked whether there would be sufficient visual buffering to obscure a loading dock located on the corner of the proposed shopping center that would be nearest the school.

Ms Zimmerman urged the P&Z to reject the application and have the developer submit a reworked proposal.

Peter Gucciardo of 14 Washbrook Road said the project’s traffic design would worsen existing traffic hazards in the area. He urged that a proposed truck loading dock be relocated from the south side of the shopping center to the north side. He also urged that traffic for Plaza South enter the premises via the existing Sand Hill Plaza entrances on South Main Street, instead of creating a new entrance.

Mr Gucciardo said the developer should create vegetation buffer for the property that provides better visual screening.

Deanna Davis, vice president of the Newtown Bridle Lands Association (NBLA), said the equestrian group is seeking to obtain an easement from the developer for a suitable horse trail on the site.

Developer’s Viewpoint

Architect/engineer Peder Scott, representing the developer, said the initial plans have been modified to increase the project’s vegetation buffer near Cold Spring Road. Also, truck-loading docks in that area would be shielded by canopies, he said.

Although the developer has considered alternative locations for a driveway entrance to the site, a signal-controlled driveway directly across South Main Street from Button Shop Road would be “ideal,” he said. Positioning a traffic signal there would improve traffic flow at the intersection of Cold Spring Road and South Main Street, he said.

There is no practical way to create an entrance to the shopping center from the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road due to terrain problems, he said.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland suggested that the loading dock be located on the northern side of the shopping center to reduce its effect on the Cold Spring Road area, but Mr Scott responded that doing so would adversely affect truck-traffic flow on the property.

There is the potential for blasting in order to do construction in the area near the loading dock, Mr Scott said.

Almost 200 trees would be planted on the site to create vegetation buffers, Mr Scott said. Soil on the site is of excellent quality for the construction of a large-scale septic system, he added.

Mr Scott told P&Z members the development proposal is still under review by the state departments of transportation and environmental protection.

In response, P&Z member Sten Wilson said he is displeased by the application’s incompleteness.

Mr Scott pointed out that the plans are “evolving” based on the state’s continuing review of the traffic and environmental issues.

Such “evolving” plans are “confusing,” said P&Z member Lilla Dean.

Mr Scott assured P&Z members that they would receive final plans after the state review of traffic and septic waste disposal issues is complete.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil said all technical details under state review should be resolved before the P&Z conducts another public hearing on Plaza South.

Mr O’Neil urged the developer to provide a suitable visual buffering for the project for Cold Spring Road. He also urged that the developer reconsider the location of the truck loading dock. The chairman also urged that some driveway be created to interconnect Plaza South to Sand Hill Plaza.

Mr Wilson recommended that the P&Z end the public hearing on the project and then act on the proposal, ostensibly to reject it due to insufficient information.

Mr Mulholland urged the developer return to the P&Z with a new application for the project.

After discussion, P&Z members decided to extend the public hearing to another session.

If the developer should withdraw the current application and resubmit a new application, the time schedule for P&Z review and action on the proposal would be restarted.