On South Main Street—

Zoning Rules Sought To Better Shape Commercial Growth

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is seeking comments and recommendations from the Legislative Council on the P&Z’s long-discussed plans for new zoning regulations to better guide commercial growth along the 4.2-mile-long South Main Street corridor.

A P&Z representative was slated to meet with the Legislative Council on November 15 to discuss amending the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. Such a town plan amendment would create a foundation for the P&Z’s later creating new zoning regulations and redrawing the town zoning map to more clearly guide future commercial development and redevlopment within the South Main Street corridor.

The section of South Main Street (Route 25) affected by such zoning regulations would extend from South Main Street’s intersection with Borough Lane on the north to the Monroe town line on the south.

After considering the Legislative Council’s comments and recommendations, the P&Z would hold a public hearing on the proposed town plan amendments, after which it would amend the town plan. The P&Z would then conduct public hearings on proposed new zoning regulations and a modified town zoning map, reflecting the specifics for a South Main Street Village Design District (SMSVDD) zone.

Such a SMSVDD zone would be an “overlay” zone, whose requirements would modify the existing various Residential, Business, and Manufacturing zones lying beneath the SMSVDD zone, with the intent of better shaping future commercial development and redevelopment with the overarching goal of preserving the town’s “New England character.”

The town’s Design Advisory Board (DAB) would review most proposed commercial construction in the corridor and make aesthetic recommendations to the applicants.

The underlying aims of such tightened zoning regulations would be: limiting traffic congestion, encouraging quality design in new commercial development, and preserving the thoroughfare’s remaining residential character, with the broad goal of preserving the local quality of life.

Since approving the town plan February 2004, P&Z members have been considering how best to manage commercial growth along South Main Street, a heavily traveled corridor that has seen continuing commercial development and redevelopment during the past several years.

The corridor now contains zones for residential, farming, business, and industrial uses. Much of South Main Street lying south of Borough Lane has commercial development, but sections of the western side of the street retain some single-family houses.

The southern section of South Main Street lies in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area above the Pootatuck Aquifer where development is tightly regulated for environmental protection reasons. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies, plus hundreds of individual domestic water supplies.

Continuing local growth has created increased traffic volume, a situation which the P&Z hopes to better regulate through revised zoning rules that would encourage the flow of traffic between adjacent commercial properties via private driveway links.

In September, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil presented the P&Z’s thinking on controlling South Main Street commercial growth to members of the Board of Selectmen and to the Economic Development Commission (EDC).

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said this week that following the P&Z’s review of the Legislative Council’s recommendations and comments on the SMSVDD zoning project, the P&Z likely would hold a public hearing next February or March on amending the town plan. After the town plan is amended, P&Z public hearings on creating SMSVDD zoning regulations and related zoning map changes would be conducted, she said.

To provide a regulatory context for their proposed land use rule changes, P&Z members have studied comparable zoning regulations that are now used by the Borough of Newtown, Southbury, Danbury, Middletown, Madison, Farmington, Wilton, New Canaan, Simsbury, East Granby, Avon, and Colchester.

Town Plan Changes

The key regulatory mechanisms that the P&Z would employ to shape commercial development along South Main Street would include:

éDesignating the South Main Street corridor as a “village district,” under the terms of state law, in order to better control commercial growth.

éRequiring that most proposed commercial development in the corridor obtain a special permit from the P&Z, a condition which gives the agency much discretion over development projects.

éRegulating traffic-flow and aesthetic matters via the issuance of special permits, which typically contain many conditions of approval.

éAllowing the “adaptive reuse” of existing homes for commercial purposes through the special permit process.

éAllowing certain properties within the SMSVDD corridor to be rezoned to Special Development District (SDD) status, which would be a more flexible zoning designation.

 Through the “village district” zoning approach, the P&Z would employ strengthened zoning regulations that would allow it to more strictly control new commercial construction and reconstruction projects that are visible from public roads. Village district zoning rules would allow the P&Z to more tightly control the traffic effect of projects, architectural designs, building placements, and the maintenance of views from public places.

 

Design Districts

The town already has two commercial design districts — one in Sandy Hook Center, known as the Sandy Hook Design District, and the other in Hawleyville Center, known as the Hawleyville Center Design District-East.

In 1995, the P&Z created Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zoning to better regulate the mixed land uses in that area, which centers on the intersection on Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road. SHDD zoning seeks to enhance the appearance of the area, encourage pedestrian amenities, and foster improved parking, with the goal of enhancing that area’s economy.

In 1999, the P&Z created Hawleyville Center Design District-East (HCDD-E) zoning for the commercial section of Hawleyville Center lying east of Hawleyville Road, near the Housatonic Railroad grade crossing. HCDD-E zoning has similar purposes similar to that of SHDD zoning.

In 2003, the Borough Zoning Commission created Village District zoning regulations for some commercial areas in the borough. Village District zoning seeks to have new commercial construction be aesthetically compatible with its physical surroundings. The borough zoners retain an architectural consultant who makes aesthetic recommendations to applicants for commercial construction in areas within the Village District.

The Design Advisory Board, which was formed in September 2004, now reviews new commercial construction proposed for areas that have SHDD and HCDD-E zoning. Such design reviews seek to have commercial development conform with the P&Z’s aesthetic standards for new commercial construction.