The End Is Coming For A Church Hill Road Eyesore

By Steve Bigham

The old Texaco gas station on Church Hill Road – often called Newtown’s worst eyesore – may finally be coming down.

That’s the word coming out of the office of First Selectman Herb Rosenthal’s this week, where the final papers were signed. According to Mr Rosenthal, property owner Ernie Wiehl has agreed to allow DGR Contracting & Demolition of Newtown to demolish the old gas station. The town would be responsible for removing the debris.

Mr Rosenthal is leading the charge to end an era of eyesores in Newtown. The gas station – arguably Newtown’s most infamous eyesore –  would be a big step in that direction.

“I’m very pleased and happy that Mr Wiehl was willing to work with us. All I care about is improving the property,” Mr Rosenthal said.

The deal was finally signed off on by Borough officials Tuesday night. They had been reluctant to sign the agreement for fear it might open the door for another gas station to go there. Mr Rosenthal said such a scenario is highly unlikely. The demolition is expected to take place before the end of the summer.

Once operated by the Oberg family of Newtown, the old gas station has been closed for more than a dozen years. Its underground gasoline tanks were removed in 1988.

David Rosato of DGR Contracting & Demolition has offered to knock down the building at no charge. The local contractor has earned a reputation in recent years as a Good Samaritan. Two years ago, DGR knocked down the former Hi-Way Cleaners building across from Blue Colony Diner, further down Church Hill Road, at no charge. The company has been hired to do other demolition work for the town in the past.

“He’s a community-oriented guy,” Mr Rosenthal said. “He helped out a lot with the Booster Club’s concession stand at the high school football field, too.”

Mr Rosato also knocked down the old White Birch building several years ago. The former “biker bar” sat at the corner of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, in the lot adjacent to the old Texaco station that is about to be removed. A fire destroyed the building and it sat vacant for several years… until DGR took it down.

Mr Rosenthal recently proposed the creation of a blight ordinance, which, if approved, would give the town the authority to remove eyesores such as the gas station or such things as old, broken down cars from residential property. Mr Wiehl, who now lives in Florida, reportedly read an article in The Newtown Bee on the blight ordinance and decided to contact Mr Rosenthal.

“I’ve been trying to work various methods and nothing was really working. Mr Wiehl had been reluctant to do anything there because he had a couple of potential users for the site. He did not want to jeopardize that,” Mr Rosenthal said.

No word on what type of users they are.

Six years ago, Mr Wiehl was negotiating to sell the property to Big Y Shopping Center owner Joe Kasper. That deal fell through.