Neighbors Voice Concerns Over Proposed Office Building

By Andrew Gorosko

Residents living near the Curtis Corporate Park site proposed for the construction of a 24,600-square-foot office building are again urging the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) to carefully review their concerns about the project when deciding on the application.

TnT Partners, LLC, is seeking a special permit from the P&Z to construct an office building at 12 Turnberry Lane. The 2.8-acre site, which is in a M-4 (Industrial) zone, is on the road’s turnaround circle.

The P&Z conducted a second public hearing on January 4 on the controversial proposal, which was first aired on December 21, when nearby residents raised issues about the project. The P&Z is expected to act on the construction proposal at an upcoming session.

TnT Expense Management, LLC, which currently is located in a 7,500-square-foot office building at 13 Berkshire Road, is seeking to construct a new building to meet the firm’s increasing space needs. The company, which employs 65 people, is in the business of telecommunications expense management. The firm performs computer analyses of its clients’ telecommunications bills to cut operating costs.

The proposed two-story office building would be constructed on a slope on Lot 11 in the industrial park. The firm also owns the adjacent 2.5-acre Lot 12 for future potential development.

The office building site would contain 93 vehicle parking spaces. TnT would have a shared driveway with an adjacent property owner in the industrial park. The steel-frame building would have an exterior fashioned of brick, stucco, and glass. The building would contain office space, an auditorium, a lobby, and conference rooms, among other facilities.

Engineer Dainius Virbickas of Artel Engineering Group, LLC of Brookfield, representing TnT, said the applicant has modified its plans for the project since the December 21 hearing, based on issues which were raised.

The proposed driveway would have a shallower grade and additional vegetation would be planted to obscure the view of the building from the east, where a residential neighborhood lies, he said.

The dead-end Fir Tree Lane lies east of the development site. That neighborhood was constructed well before the industrial park was approved.

The 20-lot Quarry Ridge Estates residential subdivision lies to the south of the industrial park. Both the industrial park and Quarry Ridge Estates are located on a mined-out expanse of land that was formerly quarried by Newtown Sand & Gravel. The P&Z approved the industrial park in January 2001, and then approved Quarry Ridge Estates in March 2002.

The industrial park is within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), an overlay zone within which many regulatory safeguards are enforced to protect water quality in the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies and hundreds of individual domestic water wells.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil urged that nighttime lighting at the TnT site be limited and also be designed to limit potential glare emanating from the site.

Site lighting would be directed downward toward the ground to focus illumination on the site, said architect Kevin Bennett, of Bennett Sullivan Associates of Southbury, representing TnT.

Public Comment

Resident Daniel Doherty of 3 Fir Tree Lane submitted a detailed letter to the P&Z on the TnT construction proposal, listing more than 14 concerns that he has about the project.

Those issues include a common driveway, earth moving, grading, septic system design, test borings, parking, easements, slope stabilization, nighttime lighting, landscaping, the presence of mechanical equipment for the office building, the visibility of the building from his neighborhood, fire truck access, and the protection of residentially zoned land in the area.

Lewis Socci of 5 Fir Tree Lane asked how TnT would obtain sufficient water from a well for its use. Mr Socci voiced concerns about night lighting.

Louis Romano of 7 Sugarloaf Road stressed that much traffic travels through the area, asking whether a traffic study has been performed to gauge the development’s effects on the area.

Lars Nordstrom of 7 Fir Tree Lane questioned how area roads could handle the additional traffic generated by the commercial growth.

TnT’s water well would put additional demands on underground water supplies in the area, Mr Nordstrom said, noting that he has problems with his water well.

Mr Nordstrom said the TnT proposal is “oversized” for the site. Past construction in the area has caused blowing dirt and dust problems, he said, adding that he wants dust control enforced on such construction. He additionally called for no visibility of night lighting at the site from Fir Tree Lane throughout the year.

Rob Brown of 15 Toddy Hill Road said nearby roads carry heavy traffic. “Traffic is a nightmare already,” he said, noting that numerous traffic accidents occur in the area. The additional traffic that the TnT project would generate would be “unbearable,” he said.

Growing traffic volume in the Toddy Hill Road area has damaged the quality of life there, he told P&Z members, in urging that they take seriously the concerns of nearby residents.

Stacey Greenberg of 2 Fir Tree Lane said that new businesses in the area add to existing traffic problems. Noting that she has problems with her domestic water well, Ms Greeberg asked whether TnT’s need for water would affect her water supply. Also, she asked how much noise would be generated by mechanical equipment mounted atop the TnT building’s roof.

“Frankly, I feel like my home is being threatened,” she said.

Robin Rush-Hanson of 8 Quarry Ridge Road questioned landscaping aspects of the TnT project, pointing out the problems posed by the presence of industrial land uses adjacent to homes. She asked why TnT needs a building as large as the one proposed.

“We have to live next to it,” she said.

“Traffic is a huge issue and it’s not going to go away,” she said. Ms Rush-Hanson urged the P&Z to address the concerns of nearby residents.

Response

Mr Virbickas, representing TnT, addressed various issues raised by nearby residents. Mr Virbickas said he does not expect parties to be held on a patio which is proposed for the rear of the TnT building; there would be sufficient fire truck access to the building; structures in industrial subdivisions tend to vary in size; and the office building is designed for a maximum usage of 2,500 gallons of water daily.

Mr Bennett said that much less than 2,500 gallons of water likely would be used daily.

Mr Virbickas said that only about 1,000 cubic yards of earthen materials would be removed from the site in order to develop it.

TnT President Michael Bodetti pointed out that the firm’s employees would arrive at work and depart work at various times of day, spreading out the flow of traffic near the site.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland pointed out that the state plans to improve traffic flow in the area by making road improvements in the vicinity of Exit 11 of Interstate 84.

But, he added, “It’s going to be a while before these intersections get fixed.”