Office Building Proposed Near

Church Hill/Boulevard Intersection

By Andrew Gorosko

A proposal to construct an office building on land near the corner of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard is scheduled for a public hearing by the Borough Zoning Commission next week.

The hearing is slated for 7:15 pm Wednesday, July 12, at the borough office in Town Hall South at 3 Main Street.

Applicant Raffie Aryeh, representing Serell, LP, is seeking a site development plan approval, a special exception to the borough zoning regulations, and a Village District zoning approval to construct a two-story office building. The land is near the western corner of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard. The street address of the site is 1 The Boulevard.

The proposed 6,440-square-foot barn-style building would be constructed on a site to the north of the existing office building that houses Prudential Connecticut Realty. The driveway at 33 Church Hill Road, which now serves Connecticut Prudential Realty, would also serve the proposed office building. That driveway is located just west of the intersection of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard.

The zoning application describes the creation of 41 new parking spaces for the building that would house professional offices.

A traffic study performed for the applicant states that the new office space would generate 50 vehicle trips per hour during the morning and evening peak traffic hours for commuter travel.

Bubaris Traffic Associates of Cheshire performed the traffic study.

The traffic consultants wrote that the project “should not adversely impact traffic operations on the surrounding roadway network.”

At a July 5 Police Commission session, commission members briefly reviewed the traffic aspects of the office building construction proposal. The Police Commission serves as the local traffic authority and makes traffic recommendations to local land use agencies.

Police Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat said the proposed development would create difficult traffic conditions in the area, adding to existing congestion problems on Church Hill Road.

“This [project] is just adding to the congestion and confusion,” she said. “I don’t see this [added traffic] as a good idea,” she said.

Commission member Richard Simon also expressed concerns about the traffic aspects of the project.

Gerald Finnegan, a commission member, asked that the commission be provided with information concerning the proposed office building, plus the types of offices that would be located there.

Ms Mattegat said the commission wants to meet with the traffic engineers for the project at its August 1 session.

In June 2003, the Borough Zoning Commission unanimously rejected Church Hill Partners, LLC’s, proposal to build a 35,000-square-foot office building at 37 Church Hill Road, which is on the eastern corner of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard. That project would have had a 154-space parking lot.

Following that rejection, the developer filed a court challenge, but later dropped its lawsuit against the borough zoners.

One of the prime objections listed by Boulevard residents who opposed the 35,000-square-foot office building was the large amount of traffic that it would generate in a congested area. That developer had proposed placing the only entry/exit to that property on the eastern side of The Boulevard.

Since 2003, the borough zoners have revised their regulations, limiting the size of new commercial buildings to 6,500 square feet.