By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) at its April 2 meeting tabled a public hearing on plans to replace the Shell station on Middlebury Road with an expanded facility and closed a public hearing on updates to the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) after many residents objected to Middlebury Center. It also discussed Ridgewood parking, South Street land subdivision and Middlebury Road excavation.
Chairman Terry Smith opened the meeting by telling the two dozen attendees he was postponing the hearing on the gas station until May 7 because the traffic study for the Wesson Energy project was not complete, and attorneys for the company could not attend the April 2 meeting. He said he couldn’t legally take comments or answer questions, but advised anyone wanting details to examine the filing in the Middlebury Building Department. He said it contains written comments from the fire marshal, town planner and town engineer along with a petition from nearby residents.
The proposal, which drew critical comments at the March 5 hearing, involves demolishing the Shell station on 520 Middlebury Road and building a larger station and convenience store spread across that site and the adjacent lots formerly occupied by Vinnie’s Pizza and Johnny’s Dairy Bar. Several residents complained the planned five two-sided pumps for 10 cars under an enlarged canopy was more like a truck stop than a village gas station. The original proposal also included a much-debated drive-through window that Smith said has been deleted from the plans. He said Zoning Enforcement Officer Curtis Bosco was instructed to have the canopy area staked out and bordered with tape for the commissioners’ visual inspection.
Most of the attendees remained in the room for more than an hour of public and commissioner comments on the draft POCD, which Smith said is available on the town web site.
Dr. W. Scott Peterson, president of the Middlebury Land Trust (MLT), praised the conservation and open space sections of the POCD, which he said were much improved over the outdated information in the previous plan. He got a laugh with his quip, “We think the conservation part of the plan, not to blow our own horn, is superb.”
Peterson credited months of meetings between P&Z and the MLT, particularly the efforts of Alice Hallaran and Curtiss Smith. He said Hallaran was unable to attend due to illness, but had asked him to relay her belief that a mixed residential/commercial core of Middlebury Center was key to the way the community would be perceived by passersby and residents, with the area becoming a congregating place, especially for school children. He said Hallaran also wanted commissioners to keep in mind the residential setbacks in the area. Peterson encouraged the town to consider hiring an architectural consultant to provide design assistance for a coherent aesthetic plan as Woodbury did recently. He said he would ask the MLT to help fund a portion of the effort.
Terrence McAuliffe called telephone poles sticking up in the middle of recently excavated properties along Middlebury Center hideous, saying he agreed with a suggestion made by Michael Jacobi at the March hearing that the commission consider burying all wires underground. McAuliffe also said the POCD should include an emphasis on protecting Fenn Farm, at least esthetically, and not let that site fall into disrepair.
Among those expressing concern about drainage, flooding and overdevelopment was Donald Stevens, who said Middlebury Center was the lowest part of town and has past drainage problems. He worried the Middlebury Center district would attract more businesses and worsen the situation. Stevens said he started having water issues in his basement and observed smelly sewage running into Long Swamp Brook. He said, “I can testify the swamp on the other side of the road is a lot dirtier now since Dunkin’ Donuts was put up.” He said there was no land use suitability map or any map determining the elevation of the town, and they should be included in the POCD. He said such a suitability map was included in the 1973 POCD, and it showed the area was unsuitable for development. He also suggested an on-site inspection be performed by an independent agency like the Southwest Conservation District.
Frank Perrella said he wasn’t against the idea of Middlebury Center but was opposed to only one road supporting commercial businesses when there were several other districts available in town. “I’d like to see those developed and filled up,” he said. Perrella said he agreed with Stevens that the area behind Edgar Road was not suitable for development. Citing a 1976 King’s Mark Resource Conservation and Development Area report from the same era, he said, “That land is not conducive to building too many things on it, whether it be commercial, residential or much of anything else.”
He said the land hadn’t gotten any better over the years, and the study was still valid. “I think if we’re going to open up this area for builders and developers to come in, then we should have another study done,”he said.
He noted a traffic study from 2004 listing the intersection of Routes 63 and 64 as the fifth most congested intersection in Connecticut. He also asked Smith why the 2015 POCD draft used the words “should be protected from adverse impact” in reference to the residences around Middlebury Center when an earlier draft said “must be protected from incompatible intrusions.”
Perrella also asked Smith to clarify the distinction between a setback and a buffer in the zoning regulations. “I know there’s issues,” Smith said. “Hopefully, by considering this, we can make it better. That’s the whole intent. Not to increase the density, not to change the types of commercial or retail. Let’s put architectural standards in there, the types of buildings we want, define the setbacks better.”
Nancy Robison said she was disappointed with earlier projects along Middlebury Road not keeping their beautification promises and said safety for children was a big concern. She objected to red dotted boundary lines around Middlebury Center that Smith said were drawn to consider the impact of the commercial district on the residential district. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to expand the commercial district to that red line,” Smith said.
Mary Santos showed photos of drainage issues, sink holes and catch basins that do not take all the storm water at the Nutmeg Road condos.
Richard Mollica said he wanted the town to remain rural, and setbacks for the greenway need to be reviewed and increased.
Jean Peterson questioned how the Wesson gas station application fit into the POCD. Smith said it must be considered under the 2001 plan. He also confirmed the state has taken over a lot of Middlebury land adjacent to Oxford Airport and wanted the new plan to consider what should be done with it.
Scott Peterson said if people think Middlebury is not an attractive town, property values will go down. “And if they went down even 1 percent, that would be vastly, vastly greater than any taxes that would ever come,” he said, adding Middlebury isn’t considered pretty any more, and doctors he has hired don’t want to live here because of that.
Commissioner Matthew Robison said he was opposed to the inclusion of the business center called Middlebury Center in the POCD for several reasons. He said the designated area is not stated as a study area. He said it was a boundary line, and the boundary line says it is the business center area. Robison said the area was too expansive and encroaches on residential areas. He said Middlebury already has five commercial areas in a town of 7,000 people.
“There are two major watercourses that run through the subject area; they are Hop Brook and Long Swamp,”Robison said. “There have been flooding concerns in that area for years, highlighted recently because a number of homes on Regan Road and Porter have now been included in a floodplain area, and their insurance costs are going up. This is all downstream from the subject area that we’re talking about, so if you put more impervious surfaces, asphalt surfaces, this water drains into those watercourses.”
Robison said he also was concerned about the environmental impact. He said the wetlands area behind Middlebury Station and Sullivan’s Jewelers has been steadily encroached upon over the last several years, and Middlebury Road already has a very heavy traffic volume, particularly during peak times, with frequent congestion due to accidents on Interstate 84. “My feeling is that if the POCD says that this is a designated business center, that encourages people to come in here and say ‘I want to do this. I want to rezone a residential lot because it’s in keeping with your plan of development.’ I’ve been on this commission long enough to know that is usually their argument.”
“The area can’t handle this kind of over-development,” Robison continued, but he said developers will say, “The POCD wants it so why are you denying me?” He said Middlebury Center seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction to make the unattractive downtown look better. He said he was in favor of a village district designation for properties that front Middlebury Road from Bristol Park to Ledgewood Park, and he suggested beautification and architectural standards, sidewalks, changes in parking requirements, lampposts along the sidewalks and roadside gardens.
“This is the biggest attendance we’ve had yet and I believe this is the fourth public hearing,” Robison said. “We’re just now starting to get the input from people.” He said a lot of people moved here for the quality of life, and once that changes, you will never get it back. He said he was disappointed the Economic and Industrial Development Commission had not provided input. Smith agreed and said he had discussed the POCD with that commission and had begged them to attend the hearings.
Smith closed the hearing and said he would schedule additional workshops on the POCD until it was a document that could be unanimously supported.
In other matters, Bosco was instructed to handle a complaint from a Ridgewood resident about an improperly located parking space by having Toll Brothers apply for a site-plan modification. He also told Bosco a request for screened porches at Ridgewood was a matter for the building inspector.
A division of land owned by the Larkin family at 675 South St. was deemed a “first cut” subdivision not requiring P&Z approval. Smith said the notification was a courtesy to the commission and only needed for record keeping.
Smith discussed the continued unattractive “gravel pits” on property at 472 Middlebury Road and Clearview Knoll owned byRobert LaFlamme d/b/a Pomeroy Enterprises LLC. He instructed Bosco to set up a meeting so Smith could tell LaFlamme exactly what needed to be done.
The next regular P&Z meeting will be Thursday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
