Environmental Protection—

P&Z Reviews Revised Parking Lot Proposal  

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are reviewing a Sandy Hook firm’s revised proposal for an additional parking lot for its office building on Turnberry Lane, which would reduce the proposed parking lot project’s size, in view of P&Z members’ environmental concerns.

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. The property is located in the environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD).

On November 1, P&Z members continued a public hearing on the parking lot proposal that started on October 18. The P&Z hearing is slated to resume on November 15.

Engineer Steven Trinkaus of Trinkaus Engineering, LLC, of Southbury, representing Quickcomm, told P&Z members on November 1, that in view of P&Z members’ concerns about a 139-space parking lot which was proposed for land adjacent to the firm’s 24,600-square-foot office building, the proposal has been reduced to a 110-space lot.

The firm already has a 93-space parking lot, which the P&Z approved in February 2007, as part its office building construction project approval for TnT Partners, LLC.  

However, rapid expansion has resulted in Quickcomm outgrowing its parking facilities, with many employees parking their vehicles in areas not designated for parking, including the turnaround circle at the end of Turnberry Lane. Quickcomm is a telecommunications expense management firm.

Mr Trinkaus said that the revised parking lot plans would eliminate the need for a proposed retaining wall at the site, lessening the physical impact of the project.

Thus, an earthen ridge at the site would remain unchanged, he said. “The ridge stays as exactly as it is today,” he said.

The vegetated ridge is located in the area between the Quickcomm building and Curtis Pond, which is a town open space area.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said that the modified plans, which would reduce the proposed parking lot’s size, are “a very good thing” which would be protective of the nearby Curtis Pond.

An existing pedestrian accessway between Turnberry Lane and Curtis Pond would be retained as part of the parking lot project.

Mr Trinkaus said he would provide certain technical information on the project to the P&Z, which would be discussed at the agency’s November 15 session.

A power outage that he had experienced due to Storm Sandy caused some office equipment to stop working, thus preventing him from providing such mapped data to the P&Z on November 1, he explained.

Mr Trinkaus said he would have markers placed on the Quickcomm site to indicate the extent of construction under the terms of the revised plans.

Quickcomm is located at the end of 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.

The town Aquifer Protection Agency (APA) has endorsed the Quickcomm 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.