Due to a significant number of design changes that were made to a planned large veterinary complex, known as Pleasant Paws Pet Center at 94 South Main Street (Route 25), the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) is requiring the project’s applicant to obtain a modified special zoning permit for the construction.

Site development work has already begun at the 2.06-acre property that lies south and west of the intersection of South Main Street and Greenbriar Lane. The planned two-story structure would enclose more than 17,000 square feet of space.

The P&Z has scheduled a public hearing on the requested modified special zoning permit for 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 18, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

In June 2018, after lengthy review, the P&Z approved the construction of the veterinary complex, which would include a veterinary clinic, animal boarding facilities, an animal rehabilitation unit, and a pet-related store. Prithvi Real Estate Management LLC is the applicant for the project. Dr Rakesh Vali, the owner/veterinarian at Mt Pleasant Hospital For Animals in Hawleyville, is a principal in Prithvi Real Estate.

The project has required many town land use approvals. In June 2018, the P&Z granted the project a change of zone from R-1 (Residential) to South Main Village Design District/Special Design District-5 (SMVDD/SDD-5) and also issued the project a special zoning permit for a site development plan. In February 2018, the P&Z had approved a set of unique zoning regulations, known as Special Design District-5, which are rules that apply only and specifically to the development of a veterinary complex at 94 South Main Street.

In May 2018, the project received a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) in connection with the presence of a pond at the site.

In November 2017, P&Z members approved subdividing a 3.13-acre site at 94 South Main Street into two lots — a 2.06-acre lot with frontage on South Main Street, and also a 1.07-acre lot lying to the west with frontage on Greenbriar Lane. The site where the pet center would be built formerly held a plant nursery.

Changes Described

Documents and mapping recently filed at the Town Land Use Agency describe in detail the differences between the zoning plans for the project, which the P&Z approved in June 2018, and the construction plans for the pet center. In projects where such differences are relatively minor, the Land Use Agency may endorse the design changes and allow the project to proceed. However, when the design changes are more significant, the matter is submitted to the P&Z for another public hearing and action.

In a March 21 letter to Claris Construction Inc, which is the firm that would build the project, Rob Sibley, town deputy planning director, wrote that many differences exist between the site plan approved by the P&Z in June 2018 and the construction plans. Those differences exceed the scope of “an administrative approval” for such design changes, according to Mr Sibley. Rauhaus Freedenfeld & Associates is the architectural firm for the pet center.

Among those design changes, the internal room layout of the veterinary building would be modified, and the square footages of the first and second stories would be altered.

In addition, a retaining wall would be added on the site at a parking lot alongside South Main Street in order to provide motorists exiting the property with sufficient sight lines along South Main Street, as required by the state Department of Transportation (DOT). Also, the DOT is requiring that some guardrailing on South Main Street,  south of the planned driveway, be replaced.

The revised plans call for installing concrete pads near the planned building where condenser units for an air conditioning system and an electrical generator would be positioned.

Landscaping for the parking lot would be altered in view of certain septic system design changes required by the town Health Department. Also, three parking spaces need to be removed from that parking lot.

The landscaping that was planned for the building’s facade would be altered to accommodate different locations for doors on the building and for the placement of outdoor mechanical equipment.

Additionally, the main driveway that connects the property to South Main Street would be modified to accommodate truck-turning movements for long trucks.

As was approved by the P&Z in 2018, a secondary driveway for the property on Greenbriar Lane would be an enter-only access point for vehicles. The presence of a secondary driveway, which would lie across Greenbriar Lane from Southbrook Lane, drew stiff opposition in 2018 from Greenbriar Lane area residents.

Under the revised plans, one of two outdoor exercise yards for animals would be eliminated, and the other exercise yard would be reduced in size.

In another design change, the geometry of the building’s roofline has been simplified and its height reduced from 40 feet to 38 feet.

The Pleasant Paws Pet Center project employed the South Main Village Design District zoning process as a regulatory mechanism to gain approval. That process allows applicants to propose customized zoning regulations that are tailored to an individual property’s development or redevelopment. If the P&Z approves such a set of unique zoning rules, those rules then replace the underlying zoning regulations.

The P&Z created the SMVDD zoning regulations in 2007 to foster economic development that is in harmony with New England architecture along the four-mile-long South Main Corridor. Pleasant Paws is one of six projects that has that has gained SMVDD zoning approval.