This architectural rendering shows the front view of the grocery store proposed for a site on Southford Road across from the former Golden Age of Trucking Museum.
By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The names of the owners of the proposed Middlebury Fresh Market on Southford Road in Middlebury were made public for the first time at the Jan. 26 Middlebury Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC) meeting. Barry and Patricia Tarnowicz of Southbury, former owners of the Southbury Food Center, appeared at the meeting for the architectural review of the store they plan to build on vacant land across from the former Golden Age of Trucking Museum.
The Southbury Food Center, which the couple ran before purchasing it in 2007, had been in Patricia’s family 66 years. Her late father, George Tomey, founded the business.
On May 15, 2012, Bozzuto’s Inc., a Cheshire-based wholesale distributor of food and household products, announced it had acquired the store from the Tarnowiczs. On June 14, 2012, Bozzuto’s announced it had sold the business to LaBonne’s Markets, an IGA store with locations in Salisbury, Watertown and Woodbury. LaBonne’s closed the store three years later, on Oct. 18, 2015.
Barry Tarnowicz said in a telephone interview Jan. 27 that the grocery business is a passion for the couple. He said, “Not too many stores have the friendliness and cleanliness we had (at the Southbury Food Center).”
Asked when the new store might open for business, Patricia Tarnowicz said they didn’t want to make any promises about when the store might open. “We want to to it right. Good things you have to wait for. It will be worth it,” she said.
At the EICD meeting Tuesday night, Architect Kevin Bennett of Bennett Sullivan Associates told commissioners who the store was being built for. Bennett said the framed steel, wood and concrete building would have 11,700 square feet of sales area, 11,700 square feet of basement, a rear loading dock for trucks, and a small second-floor office area.
A small patio on the left will allow customers to sit outside and eat, but there will be no counter service. The exterior is heather moss colored HardiePlank (cement with wood appearance) siding with white trim and brick veneer covers the front. All services and mechanicals will be in the back, Bennett said, so the architectural rendering is what the building will look like in its setting.
Customer parking for 70 vehicles will be along the front and sides with employee parking in the rear. He said the grocery was a good use for the site because there was no other food service nearby for the amount of housing in the area.
Barry Tarnowicz told Commissioner Armando Paolino he was interested in the tax-abatement program, and First Selectman Edward B. St. John said he had discussed the program and the application process with Tarnowicz, commenting to Bennett that the building appeared to be well thought out and “long overdue and greatly needed” for the area. Patricia Tarnowicz said the business will employ about 50 full- and part-time employees.
The EIDC unanimously approved the appearance and the layout of the planned grocery store. The next hearing for the business will be at Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) hearing Thursday, Feb. 4. P&Z will look at the site plan, excavation and grading permits, and the larger-than-normal roadway sign planned for the store at 1000 Southford Road.
The store will be built on property owned by Joseph Desantis and Richard Brown of Middlebury D/B/A Southford Road LLC. They combined their 2.3-acre parcel at 1000 Southford Road with an acre from the adjoining lot at 984 Southford Road owned by Francis Cipriano of Watertown D/B/A Southford Park LLC to get enough land for the project.
Permits for constructing the commercial building in wetlands were received Nov. 24 from the Conservation Commission after extensive mitigation, planting, and erosion control plans were approved.The owners also obtained permits from the Water Pollution Control Authority to tie into town sewer lines.
Land use attorney Michael McVerry told P&Z commissioners at their Jan. 7 meeting the market was tentatively named “Middlebury Fresh Market” in the drawings, but that might not be the final name.
Also at the Jan. 7 meeting, Zoning Enforcement Officer Curtis Bosco squashed rumors it might be Dinova’s, LaBonne’s, or Trader Joe’s. He said the operator is an independent grocer who has run other stores. McVerry pointed out Middlebury Consignment is to the south on the same strip of what is known as the Gateway Industrial Design District and called the grocery “a perfect gateway for the town of Middlebury.”
The next regular P&Z meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
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