A land developer is proposing the construction of a 14,000-square-foot retail center, including a 2,800-square-foot restaurant, at a 3.07-acre site in a heavily traveled area at the intersection of Berkshire Road (Route 34) and Toddy Hill Road, near the Exit 11 interchange of Interstate 84.

Applicant James F. Walsh of Yearling Lane, who owns the site, on February 19 submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) plans for the proposed complex at 32 Berkshire Road. The undeveloped site currently is occupied by a wood mulching operation, with the land there used to store logs and wood chips.

The property lies within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD). The application includes an aquifer protection report. Also, Curtis Pond Brook crosses the site. Because that area is not served by the central municipal sanitary sewer system, a septic system would be installed to process wastewater.

Walsh is seeking a site development plan approval and a special zoning permit for the project from the P&Z. The project has the working name Coach’s Corner.

The P&Z is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the development proposal at 7:30 pm on Thursday, March 5, at Newtown Senior Center, 8 Simpson Street.

The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has scheduled a public hearing on the wetlands protection aspects of the development project for 7:30 pm on Wednesday, March 11, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

IWC members also serve as the town’s Aquifer Protection Agency (APA). Provided that the APA receives an aquifer protection referral on the matter from the P&Z by March 11, the APA would meet immediately following the IWC session to review the aquifer protection aspects of the project. The APA makes recommendations to the P&Z on aquifer protection.

-The development site would have two access points. The primary access, which would be a regular two-way driveway for entering and exiting vehicles, would be located on the west side of Toddy Hill Road, about 135 feet south of its T-intersection with Berkshire Road.

A secondary dual-lane accessway would be located on the south side of Berkshire Road, about 340 feet west of the Berkshire Road/Toddy Hill Road intersection. That access point would allow eastbound traffic on Berkshire Road to turn right to enter the complex, and allow traffic to turn right while exiting the site onto eastbound Berkshire Road.

The retail complex is being proposed in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) planned $17.7 million Exit 11 area roadway improvement project. That long-awaited infrastructure project had been slated to start during the coming construction season.

However, in December, a DOT spokesman said that DOT planners had realized that the road project’s start needed to be delayed to the 2021 construction season based on two factors — a previously unanticipated need for additional planning on stormwater drainage control and the need to relocate certain public utilities to make way for construction.

The roadway improvements, which have been in the planning stages for more than 20 years, are keyed to enhancing traffic flow in an area known for its congestion and long backups during the morning and evening commuter rush periods.

A traffic report prepared by Solli Engineering LLC of Monroe for the developer of Coach’s Corner states that an anticipated increase in traffic flow associated with the proposed development can be accommodated in connection with the planned DOT roadway improvements in the area.

Walsh is seeking to buy a landlocked 0.122-acre lot from DOT, and DOT is seeking to buy 0.099 acres from Walsh for road-widening purposes. The DOT has already acquired five Berkshire Road residential properties in that area for road widening.

Past Approvals

In September 2019, Walsh received two requested changes of zone for the site from the P&Z. That P&Z action changed the zoning designation for 32 Berkshire Road from M-5 (Industrial) to B-2 (General Business). It also conditionally changed the zoning designation on the landlocked 0.122-acre state-owned parcel from R-2 (Residential) to B-2.

Also in September 2019, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) conditionally approved a front-yard setback zoning variance for Walsh, allowing vehicles at the proposed complex to park closer to Berkshire Road than would normally be allowed.

Notably in June 2019, Walsh had proposed that drive-through window service at an eatery be allowed at a retail center there, but P&Z members rejected that proposal after fielding much public comment, which was heavily opposed to allowing drive-through window service.

According to information included in Walsh’s 304-page P&Z application, to prepare the site for construction it will be cleared of vegetation.

DOT traffic data compiled in 2016 indicates that the section of Berkshire Road which runs parallel to the northern border of the site carries approximately 10,800 eastbound vehicles daily and about 9,700 westbound vehicles daily, for a total of 20,500 vehicles daily.

Claris Construction would be the firm that constructs the project. The 14,000-square-foot structure would be built on a northwest/southeast axis, with the 2,800-square-foot restaurant located at the southeast end of the building, near the Toddy Hill Road driveway. Engineering drawings indicate seven tenant spaces in the building. The site would have 88 parking spaces.

Among the many improvements planned for DOT’s Exit 11 area roadway project, a section of Berkshire Road would be widened to better handle heavy traffic, an auxiliary Exit 11 on-ramp extending from westbound Berkshire Road would provide motorists with more direct access to both eastbound and westbound I-84 than is currently provided, and the sharp geometry of the tightly curved Exit 11 interchange off-ramp would be improved as a traffic safety measure, among many other changes.

In 2019, the town completed a $2.9-million roadway widening project on the northern end of Toddy Hill Road which upgraded its intersection with Berkshire Road and replaced a culvert, which had carried Curtis Pond Brook beneath Toddy Hill Road, with a modern arch-style bridge.