Industrial Park Plan Alarms Residents

By Andrew Gorosko

Curtis Corporation’s proposal for an industrial park for commercial/light industrial development on its land adjacent to its Route 34 factory/warehouse complex, has drawn opposition from neighboring property owners who say an industrial park would worsen traffic congestion in the area, posing public safety hazards and travel delays.

Curtis is seeking approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) to create a 13-lot industrial subdivision on 49 acres, known as Curtis Corporate Park. The land lies just south of the intersection of Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road. The firm would retain the 13th lot of the subdivision for its existing factory/warehouse complex. A dead-end street, called Turnberry Lane, would extend eastward from Toddy Hill Road, providing access to the 12 lots envisioned for industrial use.

The site is a mined-out sand-and-gravel quarry, which has been worked by Newtown Sand & Gravel. Curtis proposes donating Curtis Pond, a 10-acre dammed pond on the eastern edge of the site, to the Newtown Forest Association for passive recreation. Curtis, a packaging materials manufacturer, currently uses the pond as a water source for fire protection. The pond was created about 155 years ago as a reservoir to power a waterwheel.

In September 1999, the P&Z turned down a similar industrial subdivision proposal from Curtis for the property. That proposal called for 10 lots, nine of which would be building sites. P&Z members rejected that plan based on Curtis’s proposal to mine 111,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from the site. P&Z members also rejected a related zone change request from Curtis. The development proposal now pending before the P&Z calls for regrading the property, but for no removal of earth materials from the site.

The industrial subdivision proposal, which the P&Z rejected last year, had drawn heavy opposition from neighboring property owners.

The site lies within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area atop the Pootatuck Aquifer, a major underground source of drinking water. The P&Z expanded its controls over development in the APD in June 1999 to protect aquifer water quality.

Although the industrial subdivision proposal, which the P&Z rejected last year, was not subject to the P&Z’s strengthened aquifer protection regulations, the pending Curtis proposal is subject to those rules, requiring Curtis to perform an analysis of how an industrial park would affect the underlying aquifer. The strengthened P&Z regulations prohibit the removal of earth materials from development sites in the APD as a safeguard against aquifer contamination. The revised regulations greatly expand and more explicitly state the rules the P&Z uses to protect groundwater quality in the APD, including a long list of prohibited activities concerning potential aquifer pollutants.

Curtis was among several firms that sued the P&Z last year seeking to nullify the new prohibition on gravel mining in the APD, or to at least allow gravel mining with certain restrictions. The lawsuit claims that gravel mining in the APD does not pose a substantial threat to water quality in the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer. That suit is pending in court.

In summarizing its review of the Curtis development proposal, GZA Geoenvironmental, Inc, a Vernon consulting firm hired by Curtis stated, “Our evaluation did not identify any significant impacts to groundwater quality or quantity that will occur as a result of the development of the proposed Curtis Corporate Park.”

 

Neighbors’ Views

Resident Lars Nordstrom of 7 Fir Tree Lane, a residential street east of Curtis Pond, told P&Z members at an October 19 public hearing that having an industrial park in the area would add traffic to the already heavily traveled area. The lack of sidewalks in the area would pose traffic hazards for pedestrians, especially schoolchildren from the nearby Newtown High School, he said. Mr Nordstrom asked that sidewalks be installed as a safety measure.

Increased traffic generated by workers at the industrial park, coupled with truck traffic to and from the development, would cause major traffic tie-ups on Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road, he said.

“Has a true traffic study been done?”  Mr Nordstrom asked.

The P&Z’s regulations do not require Curtis to perform a traffic study for its development proposal, and the firm did not perform such a study.

Area residents would have to live with a view of an industrial park, Mr Nordstrom said, adding that nearby property values would be damaged.

“If this (project) goes in, I could see my property value decreasing rapidly,” he said. The excavation work needed to regrade the site would cause blowing sand problems in the area, he said.

Curtis has been a good neighbor to nearby property owners, Mr Nordstrom said, but added that the firms who locate in the proposed industrial park will be other companies.

As an alternative to an industrial park, Mr Nordstrom suggested that the company create “Curtis Recreational Park,” an area with athletic fields for public recreation.

Resident Gregory Pierce of 47 Toddy Hill Road said “This development is going to dramatically change the character of this section of Sandy Hook, and it’s going to do it forever,” causing much additional traffic in the area.

“We’re going to create a whole industrial park that’s going to change the shape and the look and the character of the area,” he said. It does not make sense to create such development in an aquifer protection area, he added.

“It’s a big change for this part of Newtown,” he said, adding that the extension of a new road off Toddy Hill Road could pose added traffic problems for that street.

Resident Robert Nasinka of 9 Bishop Circle told P&Z members he bought his home on that residential street off Philo Curtis Road two years ago. Mr Nasinka expressed his opposition to the proposal.

The employees who would work at the industrial park, plus the truck traffic which would enter and leave the park, would worsen traffic problems, he said. “Where’s it going to end?” he asked. High school students, who are inexperienced drivers, drive through the area, he said.

Most of the site has M-4 Industrial zoning, which allows such development. In conjunction with the subdivision request, Curtis proposes rezoning 7 acres of its land from R-2 Residential to M-4 Industrial, to allow three industrial lots to be relatively large.

The proposed subdivision lots range from 1 acre to 4.5 acres. The larger lots would have 10,000-square-foot buildings, while the smaller lots would have 5,000-square-foot buildings, according to Curtis. The actual size of the buildings, however, would depend on the specific plans approved for individual lots in the future.

Resident Timothy Stan of 6 Johnny Appleseed Drive asked how building an industrial park would affect the water level of the Pootatuck Aquifer and how it would affect the aquifer’s water quality.

“The area’s already over-trafficked,” he said. The P&Z cannot dismiss existing heavy traffic in considering such a proposal, he said. Toddy Hill Road carries high-speed traffic and the proposed industrial park would bring more commuter traffic and truck traffic to the congested area, he said.

The area contains narrow streets and playing children, he said.

“It’s not a negligible traffic impact,” Mr Stan stressed. “It’s not a negligible issue. It’s not that it’s nobody’s responsibility to do the (traffic) study,” he said.

“This type of development will irreversibly change the character of the area,” he said.

 “This concept of economic development is ludicrous. It’s a residential area,” Mr Stan said.

Resident Robert Knapp of 8 Johnny Appleseed Drive said of the proposed construction “It’s going to cause a lot more traffic on Route 34 and Toddy Hill Road and our street.” An industrial park will affect the Pootatuck Aquifer and it will not affect it for the better, he said.

Resident Jeff Hadgraft of 6 Johnny Appleseed Drive expressed his opposition to the Curtis project. Motorists in the area now use Johnny Appleseed Drive as a high-speed shortcut between Toddy Hill Road and Route 34, he said. Curtis’s industrial park would generate more traffic in the area, he said. He asked what guarantees residents would receive that their domestic water wells would not be negatively affected by an industrial park.

In letters to the P&Z, First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal supported Curtis’s application for an industrial subdivision and for an accompanying zone change, noting that the firm is one of the town’s largest employers and is a good corporate citizen. The proposed development would improve the town’s tax base and redevelop an area which has been mined out as a sand-and-gravel quarry, according to the first selectman.

The town’s Economic Development Commission similarly endorsed the applications, stating the proposed corporate park would expand the town’s economic base.

Don Droppo, president of Curtis Corporation, told P&Z members the firm has spent much time planning the industrial subdivision, which would include “a series of nice commercial buildings.” Curtis would conduct an architectural review of the buildings planned for the subdivision lots that it sells, he said.

Such new construction also is subject to P&Z review.

Mr Droppo told P&Z members that Curtis has built its 41,000-square-foot warehouse, which the P&Z approved last year. The warehouse cost $1.3 million to build, he said. Also, the firm installed a new printing press for $4.5 million, he said.

Curtis considered past comments by the P&Z and the public on its previous subdivision proposal in formulating its current proposal, he said. It also sought guidance from town land use officials in developing the current proposal, Mr Droppo added.

As part of the project, the firm plans to rebuild the dam which holds back the waters of Curtis Pond, he said. The firm would then donate Curtis Pond and the repaired dam to the Newtown Forest Association as the open space component of the project. Dam repairs would cost Curtis about $250,000, Mr Droppo said, adding that a dam repair proposal is pending before the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Water from the pond would continue to supply Curtis’s sprinkler-based fire protection system, as well as provide water for a separate fire protection system for the proposed subdivision.

Mr Hall said that although the pond does not meet the P&Z’s technical criteria for open space donations, it constitutes the best open space area on the site.

Mr Droppo said, “I do feel it’s good for the town. I do feel it can be done right.” The town’s tax base would increase and the appearance of a mined-out area would be improved, he said.

Paul Scalzo of Scalzo Realty of Bethel, representing Curtis, told P&Z members, firms that buy industrial lots would likely erect steel-framed buildings with office building facades. The rear sections of some buildings would contain warehouse space, he said.

Each lot would have individual water wells and septic systems.

“I consider this a great opportunity to put in something ‘right’ for a corporate industrial park,” Mr Scalzo said. The site is near Interstate-84 and is thus convenient, he added.

The town’s land use regulations allow a variety of uses in such an industrial park, including offices, publishing firms, shopping centers, plus various light industrial uses including manufacturing, packaging, bottling, assembly, wholesaling, and bulk storage, among others.

In response to neighboring residents’ criticisms of the development proposal, Mr Hall said it always has been Curtis’s concept to screen the industrial park from the neighbors’ view, as much as possible. Mr Droppo said that regrading work on the site would create a visual buffer for some areas.

“There is a lot of traffic and I think the state is well onto that,” Mr Droppo said.

“Our concept is to…provide significant protection to our neighbors,” he said.

 

P&Z Views

P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano told residents who live near the Curtis site that the P&Z does not create development, but simply guides development, based on its regulations. The P&Z seeks the best possible subdivision designs, he said.

P&Z member Anthony Klabonski asked Mr Scalzo what effect an industrial subdivision would have on nearby residential property values.

Mr Scalzo responded that he realizes it is difficult for neighbors to accept such a development, but noted that most of the site has M-4 zoning, which is designated for industrial development. The site is fairly well protected from nearby properties, he said. “I think it will look better than it does now” after it is developed, Mr Scalzo said. “In my opinion, this will have no detrimental impact on surrounding properties,” he added.

Mr Klabonski said P&Z members should seek a traffic study from Curtis, even if it is not required by the P&Z’s rules. Such a traffic study would benefit all parties concerned, he said.

“I don’t think it’s (traffic study) unjust, or a stretch of what people need to know,” he said.

 P&Z member Lilla Dean said it would be helpful if Curtis would inform the P&Z how much it expects traffic in the area to increase due to the project.

 Mr Fogliano pointed out that, based on a past traffic study conducted for the now-defunct Newtown Village residential development, which had been proposed for a site near Exit 11 of I-84, the level of traffic service in that general area is “F,” or the lowest level of five possible grades.

“It’s (Curtis proposal) obviously going to be that much more detrimental from a traffic standpoint,” Mr Klabonski said.

P&Z members asked Curtis to provide various technical information on the development proposal to aid them in deciding on the project. The P&Z has almost two months to act on the Curtis proposal.