Residents oppose text amendments

#MiddleburyCT #DistributionCenter #PlanningandZoning

Concerned residents opposing zoning text amendments fill Shepardson Auditorium and overflow into an adjoining room at the January 5 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Commission members, backs to the camera, were seated at tables at the front of the auditorium. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

A note before discussing the January 5 Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) meeting: This reporter contacted Amazon public relations and asked if the company was going to build a distribution center in Middlebury. The reply was, “The Middlebury project is not Amazon’s.” Now to the meeting.

Approximately 250 Middlebury residents who wanted to voice their opposition to zoning regulation text amendments that include “distribution center” as an allowed use in the LI-200 (light industrial) zone attended a January 5 P&Z public hearing on the matter. Public comments following the applicant’s presentation continued until 9:15 p.m., when the public hearing was continued to the Thursday, February 2, P&Z meeting.

The meeting followed the procedure of the applicant speaking first, after which Chairman Terry Smith opened the floor to public comments. Attorney Edward G. Fitzpatrick, representing the applicant, Stacey Drubner, JSD Partners LLC, spoke to the application to amend the zoning regulations and subsequent iterations.

The three proposed text amendments add the definition of “distribution facilities,” add distribution facilities as a permitted use in the LI-200 district and change the permitted building height under a special exception to 50 feet from an unspecified height.

Fitzpatrick said questions and comments regarding traffic, drainage and so on are not relative until the site plan application comes before P&Z. He said the text changes are in compliance with the 2015 Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) and noted an overall goal of the plan is to promote economic development. He said the amended text would apply to all LI-200 zones in town, not just the property his client is proposing to develop. He said the POCD also encourages industrial development in the Enterprise Zone, a 2-mile radius around Oxford Airport that includes the property his applicant proposes to develop.

He said there has been very little industrial development over the past decade, leaving the town with a surplus of undeveloped industrial land and the result of developing this land would be a net, net, net and positive to the tax base. He also said, “Right now, an hour from now, my client could apply,” seeming to indicate that approval of the text amendments would not be required for his client to move forward with their project.

Fitzpatrick said the SDD No. 1 zone adjacent to his clients’ property has a 50′ height limit. He said the proposed project not only works from an industry standard but also is coordinated with the existing zone right next door. He then went on to share the height limits in Oxford, Southbury, Watertown and Cheshire.

He said the POCD noted the town’s semi-rural character but said it also needs industrial growth and incentives for it. “There’s no reason you can’t have both, and that’s what the POCD says. Balance is what we are doing,” Fitzpatrick concluded.

Chairman Smith announced P&Z had received petitions opposing the text amendments from 90 residents, along with emails sent to Zoning Enforcement Officer Curtis Bosco. Smith then opened public comments, instructing attendees to please state their objections to the proposed development. By 9:15 p.m. 18 people had spoken. At that point, the public hearing was continued to Thursday, February 2, so the applicant could formulate responses to public comments and the commission could consider the topics remaining on the January 5 agenda.

Residents of Avalon Farms and Benson Woods, the two subdivisions closest to the proposed project, spoke, along with residents of Brookside and Ridgewood and residents from other parts of town. None favored the text amendments. Some of these comments follow.

Jennifer Mahr said the text amendments would give the developer a free pass to build whatever they wanted with zero regulations. She also said the proposed use doesn’t match the allowed uses in an LI-200 district and that the town’s zoning regulations are outdated and need to be brought up to date.

Don Andrews, an Avalon Farms resident, said he posted polls on Facebook and on the Region 15 page asking if people favored a distribution center and 90% on FB and 98% on the Region 15 page opposed it.

Connie Packard Kamedulski said her husband purchased development rights to build additional homes in Benson Woods. Since Benson Woods shares the longest property line with the proposed project, she said he would not have purchased the property had he known about this project, which she said would devalue every home in the area and constrain owners’ peaceful enjoyment of their homes.

Dana Shepard, a Benson Woods resident, agreed. She said, “As a member of the neighborhood right next door, I ask Planning and Zoning not to allow this. There’s no takesy backsy.”

Gary Kline of Avalon Farms said 80 plus residents there do not support the text amendments, which are incongruent with the current permitted uses, adding they also would allow the developer to build whatever they want to build.

Anthony Portonova said he was a former warehouse owner, and the flow velocity of a distribution center is much great than that of a warehouse. The warehouse serves the manufacturer while the distribution center serves the customer and is the nerve center of the supply chain.

Chris Martin, a Brookside HOA member, said a distribution center is a 24-hour operation with lots of truck and vehicular traffic along with light and noise pollution. He said it is clearly inappropriate for the proposed location and asked commission members not to approve it.

Bob Nerney, a resident who works as Waterbury’s city planner, spoke about many disadvantages and predicted the facility would operate 24/7, producing noise, traffic, the sound of warning alarms, and a negative effect on air quality due to idling engines. He also read from the POCD and said he didn’t feel the project aligned with its goals. He suggested the public hearing be closed and the application be denied.

Other comments followed before the hearing was continued to Thursday, February 2. As of press time, that meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the Shepardson Auditorium.