After a lengthy delay, a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on a controversial gas station/convenience store proposed for a 3.7-acre site at 13 Hawleyville Road (Route 25), just south of Exit 9 of Interstate 84, is scheduled to resume on Thursday, March 5. The hearing is slated for the P&Z meeting that starts at 7:30 pm at Newtown Senior Center, 8 Simpson Street.

The P&Z began the public hearing on December 19, 2019, and then resumed the session on January 16, 2020, but because open issues remained on January 16, P&Z members decided to reconvene the hearing on February 6. However, ensuing scheduling conflicts resulted in the hearing being delayed and rescheduled for March 5.

In November 2019, in response to public opposition to an earlier version of the project, the P&Z unanimously rejected a gas station/convenience store proposal for the site. That proposal contained a 5,293-square-foot convenience store and 16 fuel-filling positions at adjacent gas pumps. The fuel pumps would have been supplied by 40,000 gallons of underground fuel storage.

A scaled-down version of the project, which is now under P&Z review, proposes a convenience store that would enclose 4,083 square feet of space, six fueling positions, 24,000 gallons of fuel storage, and an approximately 2,000-square-foot canopy, instead of a previously proposed roughly 6,000-square-foot canopy to shelter the fuel pumps.

Although the developer has scaled down the proposal, opponents say that it is not the size of the project that is at issue. They stress that the location itself is unsuitable for the proposed use and would pose public safety hazards, generating traffic accidents stemming from increased congestion at times of day when roads in that area carry heavy commuter traffic.

Most of the discussion at the public hearings has focused on the traffic effects of the proposed development.

But underlying the traffic issue is the specialized zoning district where the site lies — the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD).

The HCDD zone, which the P&Z created in 1999, is intended to foster creation of a neighborhood business district that includes mixed-use activities, improvements, and the development typical of a village center. HCDD zoning is intended to encourage development with high-quality design that respects the environmental conditions and history of the area in seeking to achieve an integrated, cohesive New England village center, according to the P&Z.

Notably, in February 2019, the P&Z approved construction of a gas station/convenience store/café at 26 Hawleyville Road for NEMCO Limited Partnership. That 0.7-acre site lies about 2,000 feet north of 13 Hawleyville Road. That project is under construction. That site also is in the HCDD zone.

In September 2018, at NEMCO’s request, the P&Z, in a 3-to-2 split vote, had modified the HCDD zoning regulations to include gas station/convenience stores as an allowed use in the HCDD zone. A special zoning permit from the P&Z is required for such a use.

The Zoning Board of Appeals has approved separate “certificates of location” for the construction of both gas stations. But opponents of the project proposed for 13 Hawleyville Road maintain that Hawleyville does not need two gas stations.