Due to a delay in formally notifying nearby property owners of an upcoming Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on a proposed dance studio, that hearing has been postponed to mid-May.

A Bridgewater man is seeking a special zoning permit from the P&Z to convert an existing one-story building from its current office space use into a dance studio and one residential apartment.

Applicant Paul Russo wants to convert a building at 6 Mile Hill Road into the dance studio/apartment. The 5,600-square-foot structure, which was built in 1959, is on a 0.46-acre lot on the western corner of Mile Hill Road and Tinkerfield Road. In the past, the structure with a distinctive curving roofline was used for bowling lanes. The Taunton Press Inc currently owns the property.

The public hearing initially had been scheduled for May 2, but because the property owners with holdings within 500 feet of 6 Mile Hill Road were not notified in a timely manner of that hearing date by mail by the applicant, the hearing has been postponed. The rescheduled public hearing will be held at 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 16, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, according to the Newtown Land Use Agency.

The redevelopment application states that the 5,600-square-foot gross-floor-area structure would be converted into a 4,300-square-foot dance studio and a 1,300-square-foot apartment by making renovations within the building. Access to the site is provided at Tinkerfield Road. Twenty-one parking spaces would serve the property. The site is in a BPO (Business Professional Office) zone. Solli Engineering of Monroe is the applicant’s technical consultant. The special zoning permit is required because the commercial building is proposed for a “change of use.”