#MIDDLEBURY
By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) at its Dec.1 meeting approved a car wash on Straits Turnpike and a sign for the new Alltown gas station on Middlebury Road. It also continued a hearing for revisions to the Senior Residential District regulations.
The commission unanimously approved permits for a new car wash to be built in front of the existing County Line Wholesale building at 2160 Straits Turnpike. The project had come before the commission in August and had been criticized at public hearings by the Middlebury Land Trust and a car wash owner farther up the road in Watertown.
They expressed concerns about water runoff onto Straits Turnpike (where it would freeze in the winter), stacking of waiting vehicles onto the road, and the lack of a bypass lane for waiting cars to leave. The approved plan addresses those concerns with a turnoff just after the payment kiosk that will allow vehicles to exit onto Straits Turnpike, by longer drying distances and by 20-foot heated concrete pads at the entrance and exit.
The project was proposed by Maxxwell Sunshine LLC and County Line Carriage Inc. as a viable taxpaying business to replace the former Suzuki and Mitsubishi franchises, which owner Patrick Bayliss said were lost due to current economics. It was approved with stipulations for performance and landscaping bonds.
An oversize sign for the new Alltown gas station at 504 Middlebury Road was unanimously approved after members eventually agreed with Attorney Michael McVerry that the proposed 14-foot-by-4-foot sign was a normal size sign for the business. The size was initially questioned by alternate Jeffrey Grosberg, who said, “Driving by this location, motorists can’t miss that this is a gas station. I don’t think the sign is necessary being bigger. I think it should be according to the regulations.”
Commissioner Paul Babarik disagreed, “I don’t think it’s out of place for the size of the property or the location of the property. It’s just a sign we’re accustomed to see for gas stations of this nature.” Both Babarik and Grosberg complimented the architecture and look of the building, with Babarik saying, “They did such a professional job, and not to have a professional sign would be a disservice.”
In approving the sign, Commissioner William Stowell said, “Once again, this just shows how much we as a commission need to get our sign regulations in order.” Commissioner Matt Robison agreed with Stowell. He said, “I don’t think our hardships support this (special exception), but because we have such inadequate regulations we’re really between a rock and a hard place on these things.”
In other business, a public hearing to consider a text amendment to address setback consistency issues in the Senior Residential District in Section 24.7.2 of the zoning regulations was continued until Jan. 5, 2017, so the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments and neighboring towns could comment, as required by state statutes.
Frank Perrella of 25 Edgar Road brought the matter to P&Z’s attention at the October and November meetings when he complained the setbacks were too close. Chairman Terry Smith asked Commissioner Stowell to draft an amendment when Stowell stated, “It was brought to our attention that setbacks were only 20 feet to existing property lines, and I took a look at what was in our other two, Section 22 and Section 23, to get a comparison. Both of those have 50-foot setbacks.” Stowell added, “In Section 24 we also require, even though we only have a 20-foot setback, we require a 30-foot landscape buffer.”
Attorney Michael McVerry spoke on behalf of David Theroux, d/b/a 2455 LLC, owner of the Senior Residential District property in question. He said the 11.6-acre property between Stevens and Regan Road had been approved years ago as a result of a court action, but the 24 units in the plan were not built because of the poor economy.
McVerry used a color-coded map to describe the impact of the proposed amendment, agreeing with the 50-foot buffer to residential properties but not with an increased buffer to commercial properties, which already have a 50-foot buffer and landscaping requirement. “This would be a buffer of a buffer,” he said, pointing out that five of the proposed homes would be eliminated if an increased buffer to commercial property were required.
In public comments, Alice Hallaran of South Street, Richard Mollica of Edgar Road, and Robert Swan of Nutmeg Road spoke in favor of the amendment, and Perrella submitted a petition in favor of it that had 106 signatures, 71 of which were from people living in the adjacent area. Jill Fisher of Regan Road questioned the wetlands and the potential impact on the flood zone on Regan Road and was told by Smith it was a wetlands issue that would require a permit from the Conservation Commission.
The next regular P&Z meeting was to be Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
