New Industrial Building Under Construction

At Curtis Corporate Park

By Andrew Gorosko

On September 8, workmen started erecting the steel framework for a new industrial building for Environmental Energy Services, Inc, at Curtis Corporate Park in Sandy Hook.

The 10,000-square-foot factory/office building, marks the fourth industrial structure to be approved for the property off Toddy Hill Road. Town Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members endorsed the project last April.

RKN Enterprises, LLC, has received a special exception to the zoning regulations 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.

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.

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

The firm now employs seven people and may expand to a staff of 12.

The building will be a steel structure with a façade designed to enhance its appearance, as viewed from the street. The property will 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.

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

In approving the construction application, P&Z members set many conditions on the 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. The industrial park does not have sanitary sewer service, so wastewater there is discharged into septic 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 also 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 is required to 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.

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 construction approval for RKN Enterprises, the P&Z has approved three other buildings for the industrial park, two of which have been constructed.

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.