Following review at a July 5 session, Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) members unanimously granted several zoning variances sought by a New Milford man for his proposed construction of a 4,400-square-foot retail center at 149 Mt Pleasant Road (US Route 6) in Hawleyville.

The ZBA approved the variances for Walter Kilcourse, who plans a project known as Pogond Brook Plaza at an undeveloped 1.12-acre site on the south side of Mt Pleasant Road, just east of Newtown Power Equipment, Inc.

In September 2015, Mr Kilcourse gained a wetlands/watercourses protection permit for the project from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC). The project still requires a site development plan approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

The several zoning variances would allow Mr Kilcourse to create a driveway and parking spaces within the property's front setback area, install a commercial sign closer to the street than normally allowed, and place a single dumpster for waste disposal within the front setback/side setback areas, according to ZBA records.

The location of Pogond Brook, which crosses the site in an east-west direction, puts regulatory limits on where parking spaces could be positioned on the site, resulting in the requested driveway/parking variance.

In approving the variances, ZBA members listed topographic conditions at the site as the required "hardship" allowing the variances to be granted.

The property would have a public water supply, municipal sanitary sewers, and natural gas service.

The property lies in a B-2 (Business) zone. The planned use for the property would be "retail/personal services." The project would have 22 parking spaces.

Project construction time is listed as lasting eight months. Artel Engineering Group of Brookfield has drawn the technical plans for the complex.

Through the wetlands/watercourses protection permit, the IWC allows the applicant to construct a building, build a retaining wall, place some earthen fill on the site, build stormwater drainage structures, install public utilities, construct a parking lot, and install lighting equipment. The IWC approval includes a brook-channel restoration plan for Pogond Brook.

The town also has issued the applicant a flood prevention permit for the site. Pogond Brook has year-round water flow and is a tributary of Pond Brook.