P&Z Recommends Design Review Board For Commercial Development

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is recommending that the town create a “design review board” that would review the appearance of proposed new commercial buildings and review major modifications to existing commercial buildings, with an eye toward architectural and site aesthetics.

In a memorandum to First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil writes that the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development calls for the P&Z to create several local “design districts,” within which guidelines would be set for the appearance of commercial development.

Mr O’Neil is expected to discuss the proposal with the selectmen at an upcoming selectmen’s session.

Two such design districts already exist — the Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD), which focuses on the intersection of Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center, and the Hawleyville Center Design District-East (HCDD-E), which lies alongside Hawleyville Road in Hawleyville Center. SHDD zoning was created in 1995. The P&Z created HCDD-E zoning in 2000.

Those two design districts, however, do not yet have design guidelines for new commercial development.

During the past several months, the P&Z has been formulating a set of design guidelines for Hawleyville Center. That effort follows the P&Z’s recent approval of a developer’s proposal for an industrial-style commercial building in the HCDD-E zone on Barnabas Road. Also, earlier this year, the P&Z rezoned property along the west side of Hawleyville Road from Residential to HCDD-E zoning, thus greatly expanding the potential future uses for that property.

P&Z members had expressed a desire that the Barnabas Road building be less industrial-looking than is planned. Also, residents living near the Hawleyville Road property that received a zone change have expressed concerns that the site not have some visually objectionable commercial use built on it in the future. Consequently, the P&Z then decided to formulate design guidelines for the HCDD-E zone.

The role of a town design review board would be “to provide some direction on the desired appearance of commercial structures to those [people] who are making major modifications, or building [new] commercial structures” within designated design districts, according to Mr O’Neil.

Mr O’Neil explained that after the P&Z establishes a set of design guidelines for the Hawleyville Center Design District-East, it likely would create a set of design guidelines for the Sandy Hook Design District. The P&Z also is considering creating a design district for South Main Street, south of the borough, he adds.

The Borough Zoning Commission last year created the Village District zoning regulations, which include of a set of design guidelines for commercial areas within the borough. The Village District rules are intended to have new construction be in visual harmony with existing structures.

Mr O’Neil explains that design guidelines that the P&Z would create cannot be mandatory, but adds that he expects that most developers would try to comply with those guidelines.

“Our job is to make those guidelines supportive of the image desired for Newtown, while being economically realistic for the developer, and easily understood by the developers,” he writes.

Mr O’Neil said the P&Z would seek to have a design review board aid it in developing design guidelines, as well as perform critiques on preliminary commercial development plans.

The P&Z chairman said he expects that one or two commercial projects each year would require the advice of a design review board.

Ordinance

Mr O’Neil suggests that a town ordinance be enacted by the Legislative Council to create a design review board.

According to a P&Z proposal for such an ordinance, the appearance and character of commercial development plays an important role in social and economic well-being of the town.

A design review board, alternately known as a design advisory board, would review proposed commercial development in designated design districts sanctioned by the P&Z. The board would function as an advisory arm of the P&Z.

Three volunteer members would have backgrounds in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and urban planning. Board members would be appointed by the first selectman, and endorsed by the selectmen, for two-year terms.

The agency would aid property owners and design professionals understand the desired appearance of commercial development, both in terms of architecture and site work.