The Planning & Zoning Commission heard applications for a zone change for a storage facility on Mount Pleasant Road and a text amendment change for the Exit 10 Design District at its meeting on Thursday, May 15.

Application 25.11 by Robert Sherwood is for a zone change for 176 Mount Pleasant Road from a BPO Zone, or business and professional office zone, to an M4 Zone, or a zone to encourage moderate to high density industrial and commercial development.

Application 25.12, also by Robert Sherwood, is for a Special Exception for permit for a two-story self-storage facility. Sherwood described the lot as a “vacant lot” of about 1.5 acres. He explained that “100% of the lot will be in the M4 Zone,” and that he hopes to build a 16,000 square foot self-storage facility.

Sherwood described the self-storage facility as having only one loading and unloading zone, which is at the front of the building. Sliding doors would grant users access to the inside. He also mentioned needing a retaining wall to “elevate [the] property” as the lot is currently uneven.

Sherwood told the commission, “I conform to all the setback requirements for the building. The parking is … outside of the front yard setback as stated … there is some infrastructure there already for catch basins, et cetera.”

Following Sherwood’s brief explanation, the commission began to ask questions. David Rosen, the chair of Planning & Zoning, asked first about visibility from the road.

Sherwood answered, saying the development would sit back over 100 feet from the road and the facility would have a two-story façade to the street. Due to the elevation, the back of the building will appear as one story.

Commissioner Greg Rich asked about dark-sky compliant lighting.

Sherwood responded, “We’re working on it now … and of course it will be.”

Commissioner Roy Meadows asked, “Does Newtown need another self-storage unit?”

Sherwood replied, “That’s a good question. Self-storage is very local … I hired a company to do demographics [of the area].” Sherwood explained that he is not looking at the growth of Newtown, and focusing more on the growth that Bethel is experiencing just over the town line on Mount Pleasant Road. He noted that the rapid growth within a two-to-three-mile radius of the location is what drives the need for another storage facility.

Barbara Manville asked about the side setback, to which Sherwood answered, “It’s a 25-foot side-yard setback. We’re at like 45 feet.”

Following Manville’s question, Rosen opened the floor to public comment.

Public Comment

Don Lewis was the first to speak. Lewis is on the Board of Directors of Liberty at Newtown, a senior living community off of Mount Pleasant Road.

Lewis shared, “The vision that Newtown had for that part of the town was, as one of your former first selectmen called it, ‘Medical Mile.’ We have professional office buildings, doctors’ offices, dental offices, Quest laboratories, et cetera; to change the zoning on that lot, could that plan ever be scrapped and with the M4 Zoning could they put a batching plant for concrete there?”

Lewis also raised concerns about lights and noise in the middle of the night, as this would be a self-storage facility. He ended his comment by saying, “I don’t think the zoning should be changed. I think it should remain where it is. Put a nice doctor’s office in there and keep the 274 units of elderly housing that surround this piece of property intact and safe.”

Resident Donald Leonard spoke next.

Leonard said, “The request to change the existing BPO zone [to M4 Zone] by the applicant is completely out of step with the surroundings. To insert a heavy duty, commercial storage facility in the midst of a senior housing and BPO zone medical facilities is inappropriate and makes no sense. Clearly, it belongs in an established commercial area.”

“The existing zones were created for a reason and are thoughtful. To change for the benefit of one at the expense of many is unwarranted,” Leonard concluded.

Resident Heidi Winslow raised concerns about trees right at the roadway creating sight line issues. She added that she wants the sign for the facility, if approved, to be parallel with the road “rather than perpendicular to the road.”

Winslow asked the commission that a requirement be that no lights are allowed on the roof if this were to pass.

Michael Gelson spoke next on behalf of his wife, Dr Deidre Condon, who owns a medical office on Mount Pleasant Road. Gelson said, “The existing zoning, I think, is working excellently … The buildings that have been developed there … are excellent buildings. I think the area has really turned out well. We see no overwhelming reason whatsoever to authorize a zoning change … I question the intention of this [development].”

Resident Dave Ackert asked the commission about what limitations, if any, will be imposed on what exactly can be stored in the facility. Building off Ackert’s comments, Tulio Lopez spoke next.

“Comments were made in regards to self-storage, means that it’s totally unsupervised. Nobody knows what’s being stored. Right now, we have propane tanks, we have many things that are flammable … So when you go to bed, just think about that you have a ticking bomb next to your bedroom,” Lopez said.

He added that there have been 140,000 fires at self-storage facilities. He repeated that number several times before ending his public comment.

Rosen extended public comment and invited the applicant to respond at the next meeting, which will be on Thursday, June 5.

‘Interchange Commercial Design District’

Application 25.13 by Dominion Realty Group, LLC is for a text amendment change to modify “Exit 10 Commercial Design District” to “Interchange Commercial Design District,” which will include a portion of the land in the vicinity of Exit 11. The property in question is located at the intersection of Toddy Hill and Berkshire Roads.

Matt Baldino, an engineer with Solli Engineering, said, “Our property is not positioned directly adjacent to any residential property … the area that we would be expanding this to is abutted to the north and to the west by Interstate 84 Exit 11 ramps.”

Baldino brought up images of the Exit 10 Design District, which hosts the ever-busy Starbucks, among a few other businesses. The major draw to this location is the drive-through, something rarely allowed by Newtown’s zoning regulations.

Rob Sibley, director of Land Use, explained that the design district is the only district that allows a drive-through, and that is due to the district’s proximity to the highway.

Baldino and Luke Mauro, another engineer from Solli, explained that the development in front of the public and commission is only a conceptual design, as they need the zone change before they can apply for the actual build.

Mauro explained, “What you see before you is well, a 12,200 square foot we’ll call it ‘strip,’ retail mixed use center. In this instance, that’s broken up with about 4,400 square feet of medical office space, 6,000 square feet of restaurant space, and then 1,800 square foot … in our case we used a coffee user … It would be potentially possible that this could also be just a standard restaurant drive through.” He added that this size is all “the property could handle.”

Baldino added, “A tenant has not been obtained for the current site plan due to the lack of an anchor tenant. Based on market research, we have determined that the drive-through anchor would really help make this an economically feasible project to go through and be competed.”

Baldino and Mauro submitted a traffic study based on the conceptual development, which includes a drive-through component for a coffee user, like Starbucks.

Baldino said, “We understand the sensitivity of that and the commission’s concerns previously regarding traffic with consideration for a drive-through.”

Mauro added to this, saying, “We found that there is adequate capacity on the existing roadway network to accommodate the additional trips that would be associated with a conceptual development such as this.”

The traffic study estimated that there would be about 100-150 total trips entering and exiting the facility. Mauro explained that the intersection of Toddy Hill Road and Berkshire Road would remain at “acceptable” levels of Bs and Cs.

A point of concern from both the commission and public was about pedestrian safety and high school drivers, as this proposed development is less than a half mile from Newtown High School, 12 Berkshire Road.

In response to Commissioner David Landau’s concerns about high school pedestrians, Baldino explained that sidewalks would be used to connect this site to the sidewalk system surrounding the high school now.

Mauro said that “all traffic is stopping as a safety mechanism” and there will be “adequate count down time” on pedestrian equipment.

Commissioner Don Mitchell said, “Newtown has avoided drive-throughs, I don’t mean to be snippy, but since 1708 … They’ve been pretty diligent about it … There’s some things that Newtown has stood for for a long time and I, frankly, haven’t heard yet why that ought to be changed. And, frankly, we get an Exit 11 which is an Exit 10 use, and then you got an Exit 9, which is begging for this kind of thing.”

After Mitchell’s comments, Rosen opened the floor for public comment. He limited it to four commenters, as the meeting had run well past 10 pm at that point.

Ackert spoke again, raising concerns about “high school kids who are in queue to take a left on Toddy Hill Road who are late for class are not gonna wait nicely for someone to let ‘em go, it’s gonna be a problem.”

He also raised concerns about Curtis Pond Brook, the stream in back of the property. He said, “all it takes is one of [those cars’ radiators] to overheat and that’s going into the stream.”

Mark D’amico spoke next, echoing Ackert’s concerns for high schoolers. He added, “I think that what we’re looking at here is, while creative absolutely, and trying to extend the zone to include this one particular parcel, the entire zone right now that is part of the zone today is one contiguous piece of property. There’s multiple parcels in it, but it’s contiguous. And by adding this, it’s really spot zoning because you’re just saying, ‘we’re gonna add one more piece just so that we can get the drive-through’ … if this is allowed, then someone’s gonna come in with another one because we’ve just set a precedent.”

Winslow was the last to speak. She asked the commission, “Do we absolutely need to have a drive-through and have Exit 11 be a clone of Exit 10? I put it to you that we do not, and that we should not take this occasion to make a text amendment.”

Rosen extended the public hearing to the next meeting, which will be Thursday, June 5 at 7 pm, in the Newtown Municipal Center Council Chamber.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.