Edmond Road—

Technology Firm Seeks Wetlands Protection Permit

By Andrew Gorosko

The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has received a set of wetlands protection plans from a technology firm that wants to expand a vacant industrial building on Edmond Road to put it back into use as a manufacturing plant and research/development facility.

Advanced Fusion Systems, LLC, (AFS) has submitted a wetlands permit application to the IWC in seeking a environmental approval for its project at 11 Edmond Road. The IWC received the application at its April 28 session.

 On April 7, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) granted the technology firm three zoning variances. Two of those variances are building-height variances which would allow the company to build two separate 50-foot-tall additions to an existing 211,282-square-foot industrial building at the site. The other variance would allow a modification of the building setback regulations there.

If AFS gains a wetlands permit, it also would need a construction approval for the project from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) due to the scale of the proposed construction in the M-1 (Industrial) zone. The vacant building formerly was occupied by Pitney-Bowes, Inc.

According to its application, AFS wants IWC approval to alter 5,563 square feet of wetlands on the site. The total area on the 24-acre site to be altered would be 4.3 acres.

The proposed construction work would involve the deposition/removal of 77 cubic yards of earthen materials in wetlands. The total amount of earthen materials deposition/removal on the site would be 6,200 cubic yards.

Also, the project would require the modification of a 14-foot-long section of stream channel.

According to the application, AFS wants to construct 30,800 square feet of building additions to the existing structure. One addition would measure 17,000 square feet, and the other would enclose 13,800 square feet of space. Each building addition would be 50 feet tall. The existing building is 30 feet tall.

Also, AFS wants to construct a 20,000-square-foot outdoor pad where a future electric substation would be located. That structure would have 20-foot-tall walls, but no roof. The firm would eventually seek access to electric high-tension lines for its activities. Such access is regulated by the Connecticut Siting Council.

Additionally, the company wants to add 106 parking spaces to the existing 196 parking spaces on the site to increase the site’s parking to 302 spaces.

The impervious area on the site would be increased by 2.1 acres. Those are the areas off which stormwater drains.

The applicant estimates the project would take six to nine months to construct.

The industrial site lies in the watershed of Tom Brook, a stream that flows over the land that lies between Edmond Road and Interstate 84. Tom Brook is a tributary of the Pootatuck River, with the confluence of two watercourses located near the turnaround circle of Commerce Road.

It is unclear whether the AFS wetlands permit application will be the subject of an IWC public hearing.

Town Deputy Director of Planning and Land Use Rob Sibley said April 29 that the IWC has not received any petition seeking such a public hearing on the application. Twenty-five valid petition signatures are required to trigger a public hearing.

Considering the scope of the expansion project sought for the 11 Edmond Road site, Mr Sibley said the project represents “an impact to wetlands that has to be reviewed very carefully.”

In an expanded industrial plant, AFS would manufacture high speed electrical switching devices for very high electrical voltages, environmental cleanup equipment, sterilization gear, and X-ray laser microlithography equipment.