Date: Fri 13-Nov-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-horse-hospital-equine

Full Text:

P&Z Backs Horse Hospital Plan

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A group of six veterinarians specializing in horse care have received a zoning

amendment from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) which allows a

veterinary hospital as a permitted land use in M-1 industrial zone.

The approval allows the veterinarians, doing business as Fairfield Equine

Associates, to continue developing their plans for an equestrian hospital for

land off Barnabas Road in Hawleyville, adjacent to the Connecticut Light and

Power Company's Newtown Service Center.

Site plans for a horse hospital will be subject to review by the P&Z and

Conservation Commission.

Although the town has three veterinary hospitals, until now such facilities

were not a permitted land use. Those veterinary hospitals are either

non-conforming land uses or allowed by a zoning variance. The zoning amendment

granted to the veterinarians defines a veterinary hospital as a facility for

the diagnosis, treatment, care, and confinement of animals.

The associates are now located in two places, with offices in Monroe and

surgery and hospital facilities in Easton. Construction of a new facility on

Barnabas Road would relocate and consolidate those facilities in Hawleyville,

explained attorney Francis Collins, representing the associates.

The associates propose a 14,000-square-foot building including 12 horse

stalls, offices, and an accessory apartment for an attendant.

Dr Mark Baus, a veterinarian with Fairfield Equine Associates, said the

practice has outgrown its two current locations. The practice collectively has

about 70 years experience in horse medicine, he said, providing care for show

horses from Fairfield and Westchester counties.

"This (site) offers us a tremendous location relative to accessibility," he

said of Barnabas Road's proximity to Exit 9 off Interstate-84. The associates

have an option to buy the site.

The accessibility afforded by I-84 would allow the veterinarians to treat many

horses at the facility, greatly decreasing the number of farm calls they now

make.

The associates are currently the only full-service surgical facility for

horses in the state, Dr Baus said.

Mr Collins said the M-1 zone on Barnabas Road is an appropriate site for a

horse hospital. The facility would not have adverse effects on adjacent

properties, he said.

Eventually, the associates want to build a horse ring at the site, Dr Baus

said.

Medical waste and animal waste would be hauled from the site, he said.

Resident Penny Meek of Butterfield Road voiced strong support for building a

horse hospital in Hawleyville.

Horseman David McCauley of Rock Ridge Road endorsed the hospital proposal,

saying it make a good addition to the community by providing equine surgical

services.

Hundreds of horses are kept in Newtown by residents and non-residents.

P&Z members unanimously approved the zoning amendment which will allow the

associates to proceed with site development planning for a horse hospital.