Corporate Park To Get Another Industrial Building

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have endorsed the construction of a 10,000-square-foot factory/office building at Curtis Corporate Park, marking the fourth industrial structure to be approved for the property off Toddy Hill Road.

At an April 21 session, P&Z members approved a special exception to the zoning regulations for RKN Enterprises, LLC, to build the structure at 5 Turnberry Lane, which is the one-acre Lot #6 in the 12-lot industrial park. The site, which has M-4 (Industrial) zoning, is on the northern side of the street.

The new building will be occupied by Environmental Energy Services, Inc. Half of the two-level structure will be used for manufacturing, with the other half occupied by the firm’s offices. The building will contain 7,500 square feet of space on the ground level and 2,500 square feet of space on the second level.

Dainius Virbickas, of Artel Engineering Group, LLC of Brookfield, represented the applicant at the session.

Environmental Energy Services will move from its current 2,500-square-foot quarters on West Kenosia Avenue in Danbury to the planned larger facility in Curtis Corporate Park, Mr Virbickas said.

The firm now employs seven people and may expand to a staff of 12, Mr Virbickas said. The facility likely would generate little traffic in the area, he said. Besides employee trips to and from work, the factory would generate some delivery truck traffic, including occasional tractor-trailer truck trips, he said.

The planned building would be a steel structure with a façade designed to enhance its appearance as viewed from the street, he said. The property would be landscaped to improve its appearance.

The company manufactures electronic devices, which are used by public utility companies to improve the efficiency of boiler systems that are used in energy production, Mr Virbickas said.

P&Z members initially suggested that the applicant submit its construction design to the town’s Design Advisory Board for recommendations on improving the appearance of the planned building and its adjacent landscaping.

But after discussion, P&Z members learned that the applicant is having an architect design the building’s façade, so P&Z members dropped the idea of submitting the application for Design Advisory Board review.

Having the advisory panel review the application would have delayed its approval by at least two weeks. The town recently formed the Design Advisory Board to review commercial construction proposed for the town’s two design districts, one of which is in Sandy Hook Center and the other of which is in Hawleyville Center.

Conditions of Approval

In approving the application, P&Z members set many conditions on the construction project.

The site is located within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), above the Pootatuck Aquifer, so many environmental regulations affect construction in the area. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies.

Notably, the industrial park does not have sanitary sewer service, so wastewater there is discharged into septic systems.

The P&Z approval allows the structure to be used for the “marketing, engineering, analysis, system design, and assembly of  [fuel] injection systems.”

Due to the site’s environmentally sensitive location, the P&Z is requiring that any heating oil storage tank be located within the building and have a secondary containment structure for protection in the event of a fuel spill.

The washing, maintenance, and permanent outdoor storage of vehicles is prohibited on the property.

Stormwater drainage control on the site must be monitored as an environmental safeguard.

RKN Enterprises must submit a formal aquifer protection policy to the town, explaining in detail how the building and grounds will be used, and describing the emergency steps that would be taken in the event that a contaminant spill occurs on the property. The aquifer protection policy must be posted on the site.

The sign to be installed at the site must meet applicable signage regulations.

The P&Z’s approval would allow RKN to reduce the proposed number of parking spaces on the site from 37 to 31.

P&Z members decided that if the applicant meets all the conditions of approval, “the proposed development and use will have no significant impact on the aquifer.”

In January 2001, the P&Z approved the Curtis Corporate Park industrial subdivision.

In March 2002, the P&Z approved creating 20 house lots on 48 acres in the adjacent Quarry Ridge Estates.

The sites of both Curtis Corporate Park and Quarry Ridge Estates were formerly mined by Newtown Sand & Gravel.

Besides the April 21 construction approval for RKN Enterprises, the P&Z has approved three other buildings for the industrial park, one of which has been built, another of which is now under construction, and a third of which has yet to be built.

Curtis Corporate Park is the first development of its type to be built in Newtown in many years. The industrial park is being marketed as a site for corporate headquarters, light manufacturing, research and development, distribution/warehousing, and customer fulfillment centers.

The town’s land use regulations allow a variety of uses in such an industrial park, including offices, publishing firms, shopping centers, plus various light industrial uses including manufacturing, packaging, bottling, assembly, wholesaling, and bulk storage, among others.

The industrial park is adjacent to Curtis Corporation’s factory/warehouse complex for packaging materials. The industrial park covers about 40 acres. The adjacent ten-acre Curtis Pond has been designated as the industrial subdivision’s open space area for passive recreation.