Following a review of plans, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members on February 5 unanimously approved construction of a two-story, 30,000-square-foot medical office building at a 4.7-acre site at 168-170 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6) in Hawleyville.

The P&Z approved the project for applicant Newtown Medical Office Two, LLC of Westport.

The project would be similar in appearance to another medical office building that was recently constructed at 164 Mt Pleasant Road.

The built structure and the planned structure would flank the opposite sides of Splendid Place, a private road that provides access to Maplewood at Newtown, a 100-unit assisted living complex, and also to Newtown Woods, a 178-unit age-restricted condominium complex now under construction.

On January 28, Newtown Medical Office Two, LLC, received a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) following IWC review of the environmental aspects of the project.

On January 6, following its review of a traffic report, the Police Commission, in its role as the local traffic authority, endorsed the traffic aspects of the project.

At the February 5 P&Z public hearing on the project, engineer John McCoy of JFM Engineering of Danbury, representing the applicant, said that a passing lane would be added on the right side of the eastbound lane of Mt Pleasant Road to allow eastbound vehicles to pass on the right vehicles which are waiting to make a left turn into the driveway for the office building. The speed limit in the area is 45 miles per hour.

The building would have a 150-space parking lot.

A berm with plantings was added to the office building plans to provide headlamp shielding for an adjacent property, Mr McCoy said.

Landscape architect Kate Throckmorton, representing the applicant, described vegetative shielding planned for the site.

During the public comment section of the hearing, Peter Licht, MD, who has an office at adjacent 172 Mt Pleasant Road, asked questions about the need for blasting in constructing the planned office building.

Mr McCoy responded that he expects that any possible blasting would be minimal, adding that the new structure would be constructed in the slab-on-grade style, eliminating the need to dig a basement. Earthmoving equipment may be able to rip out any ledge that is needed to removed from the site, he said.

Mr McCoy said he expects construction to start by midyear. It would require about eight months of work to construct the building, he said.

P&Z member Michael Porco, Sr, recommended that sidewalks be built on the site alongside Mt Pleasant Road during the construction period, not at some point in the future.

P&Z Chairman Robert Mulholland termed the project "a welcomed addition to the town."

In approving the project, P&Z members agreed that the plans are consistent with the requirements of the B-2 (Business) zone, meet the standards and criteria for a special permit, and are in accord with the 2014 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.

Following some discussion, P&Z members decided that sidewalks would be installed by the property owner at some point in the future when the town Land Use Agency determines that sidewalks are necessary for the site.