In Curtis Corporate Park—

Offices Ok’d Despite Neighbors’ Concerns

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved a local business services firm’s controversial proposal to construct a 24,600-square-foot office building at Curtis Corporate Park, off Toddy Hill Road in Sandy Hook.

Following discussion at a February 15 session, P&Z members unanimously approved the construction proposal from TnT Partners, LLC, to construct a two-level office building on a slope at a 2.8-acre site at 12 Turnberry Lane. The property, which is located in a M-4 (Industrial) zone, is situated on Turnberry Lane’s turnaround circle. TnT also owns an adjacent 2.5-acre lot for future potential development.

At P&Z public hearings held in January and December, nearby residents had urged the P&Z to carefully consider their concerns about the presence of an office building when deciding on TnT’s request for a special permit for the project. Most of those residents live on Fir Tree Lane, a dead-end street extending from Berkshire Road (Route 34) and lying generally east of the industrial park.

Other nearby residents live in Quarry Ridge Estates, a 20-lot residential subdivision that lies generally south of the industrial park.

The residents’ concerns focused on traffic that would be generated by the office building, site lighting, noise, the visibility of the structure, site landscaping, the project’s effect on local underground water supplies, dust control during construction, the size of the office building, and privacy.

The site is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), an overlay zone above the Pootatuck Aquifer. That aquifer is the source of two public water supplies plus hundreds of individual domestic water supplies.

The TnT property would have both a water well and a septic waste disposal system because the industrial park has neither a public water supply nor sanitary sewers. The building would have a 93-space parking lot. The steel-frame office building would have an exterior fashioned of brick, stucco, and glass. The building would contain office space, an auditorium, a lobby, and conference rooms, among other facilities.

TnT Expense Management, LLC, which currently is located in a 7,500-square-foot office building at 13 Berkshire Road, plans to construct the new building to meet the firm’s increasing space needs. The company, which employs 65 people, is in the business of telecommunications expense management. The firm performs computer analyses of its clients’ telecommunications bills to cut operating costs.

Construction Approval

P&Z members placed 16 conditions of approval on the special permit for the office building that was granted to TnT. Those conditions, in part, address issues that were raised by nearby residents at the two public hearings.

Voting in favor of the special permit were: P&Z Chairman William O’Neil, Lilla Dean, Jane Brymer, Robert Poulin, and Robert Mulholland.

The conditions of approval require that all exterior lighting on the site, including signage, meet the requirements of the “Dark Sky” standards, which seek to prevent “light pollution” due to light spillage off the site. Except for minimal security lighting, site lighting must be off by 9 pm. Lighting in unoccupied offices must be off by 9 pm. The building must have no routine lighting on its roof.

Also, the building’s height must not exceed its specifications listed on architectural drawings. Equipment mounted atop the roof must be screened from view.

Also, the height of a sandy slope lying to the rear of the planned building must meet specifications provided on site drawings. That sandy embankment is a visual barrier between Fir Tree Lane and the construction site.

The landscaping trees to be planted on the site for visual screening must be at least eight feet tall.

An emergency vehicle access driveway for the office building must be 18 feet wide and must not encroach on a conservation easement on the site.

The applicant must limit the amount of earthen materials removed from the site when developing it.

Also, the employees who work at TnT must have “flex time” work schedules, as they now do, to minimize traffic congestion near the site.

The P&Z also specified a broad range of policies and practices that the building owner must follow in view of the site’s location within the environmentally sensitive APD.

The P&Z is requiring the applicant to formulate aquifer protection policies and practices that cover both activity within the office building, plus exterior grounds maintenance. Procedures that would be used to clean up spills of hazardous substances must be stated.

Aquifer protection policies and practices must be posted on the premises.

Also, the P&Z specifies garbage-handling practices on the site, in view of its location in the APD.  

Additionally, the P&Z prohibits the permanent outdoor storage of commercial vehicles and construction equipment. It also prohibits the maintenance of such vehicles and equipment on the site.

P&Z members decided that the construction and use of an office building on the site would have no significant adverse effect on the aquifer. They agreed that the application meets the standards and criteria required for a special permit. They also decided that the application meets the M-4 zoning regulations and the APD regulations.