P&Z Awaits Water Company Comments On Plaza South

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is seeking formal comments from the United Water Company on whether the proposed construction of a 66,000-square-foot shopping center known as Plaza South on South Main Street, near Cold Spring Road, would adversely affect the water company’s nearby wellhead for its public water supply.

In a March 17 letter to the P&Z, Kevin Moran, the water company manager, writes that the firm has received various engineering documents describing the Plaza South shopping center proposal.

“Some of the information raises questions as to the potential negative impact of the [Plaza South] project on groundwater quality…[United Water’s] wellfield lies across the street and downgradient of the proposed project. We have not had sufficient time to analyze the information given to us so as to be able to respond favorably or unfavorably for this project,” Mr Moran writes.

Mr Moran requested that the P&Z not act on the shopping center development application until the water company’s engineers review the proposal in seeking to learn whether the public water supply would be damaged by the construction.

United Water’s water supply serves central Newtown, with water line spurs extending southward along South Main Street toward Botsford, and also northward along Mt Pleasant Road to Hawleyville. The water company’s wellhead is on the east side of South Main Street, across South Main Street from the northern entrance to Sand Hill Plaza.

TP Properties, LLC, of Danbury wants to build a 66,000-square-foot shopping center, marking what would be the largest retail complex to be built in Newtown in almost a decade.

The developer is proposing construction of Plaza South at 266-276 South Main Street, on the west side of that street, in the area lying between Sand Hill Plaza and Cold Spring Road. The 12.35-acre site has M-6 (Industrial) zoning. The sloped property is a former sand-and-gravel mine.

The proposed intersection of Plaza South’s driveway, South Main Street, and Button Shop Road would be controlled by a traffic signal.

The developer has not disclosed what businesses would occupy the facility.

The controversial development proposal has drawn opposition from the owners of the adjacent Sand Hill Plaza, as well as from nearby residents.

Public Hearing

At a March 17 P&Z public hearing, Attorney Ward Mazzucco, representing TP Properties, said the developer has responded to various concerns that were raised about the construction proposal at a February 3 public hearing.

Sand Hill Plaza representatives had expressed concerns about Plaza South’s potential negative effects on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, which is the United Water Company’s water source.  Sand Hill Plaza representatives also raised concerns about stormwater drainage control. Sand Hill Plaza lies downslope of the Plaza South site.

Also, Middle Gate School representatives have urged that school bus safety be improved at the intersection of South Main Street and Cold Spring Road. Middle Gate School is on Cold Spring Road.

Mr Mazzucco explained that following recent talks with Sand Hill Plaza and Middle Gate School representatives, TP Properties reached agreements concerning shopping center development.

In view of Sand Hill Plaza’s concerns, TP Properties has agreed that Plaza South would not contain any grocery store, or any food preparation business, which exceeds 2,000 square feet in floor area. Also, the developer has agreed that Plaza South would not contain any individual business that would discharge more than 2,000 gallons of wastewater daily.

TP Properties also has agreed that it would build and maintain its septic waste disposal system and its stormwater drainage system in accordance with “good engineering practice,” according to Mr Mazzucco.

In April 2004, P&Z members unanimously rejected a regulatory proposal from Plaza South to increase the maximum allowable size of new stores from the current limit of 40,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet.

Had the retail size limit been increased to 60,000 square feet, it would have opened the way for a class of merchants whose large stores have been excluded from town since 1996 due to store size restrictions.

In response to the Middle Gate School safety concerns, TP Properties would pay for the installation of specialized flashing signs on South Main Street, near Cold Spring Road, indicating that the area is a “reduced speed zone” during school hours. The Police Commission, acting as the town traffic authority, has requested approval for such signage from the state. South Main Street (Route 25) is a state road.

Also, as requested by the town’s public works and engineering departments, TP Properties has agreed to cover the costs of designing and constructing a widened Cold Spring Road at its intersection with South Main Street to provide separate left-turn and right-turn lanes for vehicles leaving Cold Spring Road and entering South Main Street, according to Mr Mazzucco.

 Peder Scott, an architect/engineer for TP Properties, told P&Z members March 17 that the developer is willing to reduce the height of proposed lightposts in the shopping center parking lot from 40 feet to 30 feet. Such reduced lightpost height would better focus the lighting on the parking lot and tend to prevent light from straying off the site onto adjacent properties, he said.

Mr Scott said that approximately 4,800 cubic yards of earthen material would be removed from the site by blasting. Extensive subsurface testing indicated how much blasting would be needed, he said.

Existing trees standing near Cold Spring Road would remain standing, based on concerns expressed by nearby property owners, he said. Design changes have been made to enhance a visual buffer area between the site and Cold Spring Road, he said.

Mr Mazzucco said that Sand Hill Plaza representatives are unwilling to discuss a possible driveway interconnection between Sand Hill Plaza and Plaza South until Plaza South can provide Sand Hill Plaza with a list of Plaza South’s tenants.

Attorney Keri Olson, representing Sand Hill Plaza, acknowledged that Sand Hill Plaza would be willing to discuss a possible driveway interconnection between the two facilities in the future after such tenant information becomes available.

“It’s [driveway] of potential interest to both parties,” but whether it would occur would depend on which businesses locate in Plaza South, Mr Mazzucco said.

The approximately 160,000-square-foot Sand Hill Plaza, which has been in operation for about 15 years, has a Super Stop & Shop supermarket as its prime tenant.

Traffic engineer Mark Davis, representing TP Properties, told P&Z members that the state Department of Transportation (DOT) will not require the shopping center to create a “right turn only” lane into the complex from southbound South Main Street.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland pointed out though that such a turning lane would make for smoother traffic flow in the area.

In response, Mr Mazzucco said that TP Properties would provide the DOT with an easement to allow for possible future road improvements along the southbound lanes of South Main Street.

Mary Curran of 41 Cold Spring Road has been a spokeswoman for nearby residents concerned about the proposed shopping center adversely affecting the residential area.

Ms Curran raised many issues about the positioning of trees in a visual buffer zone, which would shield the view of the shopping center from nearby residents. Ms Curran said residents want the existing trees to remain in such a buffer. She urged that nearby residents be included in any talks concerning project landscaping.

The Plaza South public hearing will resume at an upcoming P&Z session, at which United Water’s review of the shopping center project will be discussed.