NOTE: This version of the story updates an earlier version published in the May 31, 2019 print edition of The Newtown Bee. This story is based on revised information which was submitted by the applicant to the Planning & Zoning Commission.

The Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) will conduct a public hearing on a local man’s proposal to create a Commercial Design District (CDD) overlay zone near the Exit 11 interchange of Interstate 84 in Sandy Hook.

The developmental approach is similar to the Exit 10 Commercial Design District (X10-CDD) overlay zone, which the P&Z created in 2015 at a developer’s request for the Church Hill Road/Edmond Road area.

The public hearing on the Exit 11 proposal is slated for 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 6, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street. However, the hearing may be postponed and be held at some later date than June 6, according to the town Land Use Agency.

Because the application requests a “text amendment” to the zoning regulations, legal notice of the public hearing was made by newspaper advertisements. The application does not require that mailed notices of the hearing be sent to property owners living near the area that would be affected.

The P&Z proposal only pertains to creating regulations for the proposed zone, which is listed as the Interchange Commercial Design District (ICDD) zone on mapping submitted with the May 21 application.

James F. Walsh of Yearling Lane is the applicant seeking P&Z approval for ICDD zoning regulations. Solli Engineering LLC of Monroe prepared the application.

If the P&Z creates such a zone, the applicant would later need to obtain a change of zone for the land where such development would occur and would also need to obtain a special zoning permit and a site development plan approval. Mailed notices of public hearings on those aspects of a development project would be sent to property owners with holdings within 500 feet of the affected site.

The land under consideration for potential commercial development is at the northern section of a 2.86-acre lot, which has a street address of 32 Berkshire Road and access at that road. As depicted in a map submitted to the P&Z on May 29, the area conceptually proposed for rezoning from (M-5) Industrial to ICDD is roughly half the size of the rezoning area that the developer had proposed in a May 21 P&Z submission. The May 21 proposal had included land on the west side of Toddy Hill Road which has two access points on that street. The land at 32 Berkshire Road currently holds a mulch business.

Similarities

The P&Z’s approval of the X10-CDD zone in 2015 followed lengthy review, with a key aspect of that zone being provisions that allow drive-through window service for an eatery. It was the first time since town zoning took effect in 1958 that the P&Z agreed to allow such drive-through service for an eatery. Allowing drive-through service for restaurants has long been a sensitive topic among local land use agencies, with potential littering and traffic congestion being among the concerns.

A retail complex at 73-75 Church Hill Road, which was built under the terms of the X10-CDD zoning regulations and is nearing completion, will include a Starbucks Coffee tenant with drive-through service.

Similarly, the proposed ICDD zone near Exit 11 would allow restaurants with drive-through window service. The zoning rules proposal includes detailed specifications for such drive-through facilities.

The zoning application states that the proposed zoning regulations for the ICDD zone would modify the wording of the X10-CDD zoning regulations, adapting those rules for use on land near Exit 11. Development proposed for a ICDD zone near Exit 11 would be subject to architectural and landscaping review and comment by the town’s Design Advisory Board (DAB).

Under the terms of Mr Walsh’s proposed zoning regulations, all of the land uses that currently are permitted in an M-5 zone would continue to be allowed, if M-5 land eventually is rezoned to ICDD, thus allowing the land to be used for various industrial, commercial, and business uses.

New uses that would be allowed in an ICDD zone through a special zoning permit would include restaurants with outdoor service and drive-through window facilities but no outdoor entertainment, financial institutions, and financial institutions with drive-through window facilities. In view of traffic concerns, access to businesses would be controlled by a traffic signal or allowed via a restricted-turn driveway.

Overlay Zones

Typically, land use officials formulate regulations for proposed overlay zones. Other local overlay zones are the Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) in Sandy Hook Center, the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD) in Hawleyville Center, the South Main Village Design District (SMVDD) along South Main Street, and the Animal Sanctuary Design District (ASDD) at Fairfield Hills. Such design districts typically allow more flexibility in a project’s design than is allowed by the underlying zone.

The proposed commercial area near I-84’s Exit 11 interchange precedes the state Department of Transportation’s (DOT) $17.7-million project to make a range of improvements to roadways at and near Exit 11 to facilitate traffic flow in an area that regularly becomes congested during the daily morning and evening commuter rush periods. That DOT project is slated to start construction in the fall of 2020.

A key feature of the DOT project is the creation of an auxiliary on-ramp for Exit 11 that would provide motorists with an alternate access point to that sweeping interchange. That on-ramp is planned to allow westbound traffic on Berkshire Road (Route 34) to enter the Exit 11 interchange via the area just west of Berkshire Road’s intersection with Toddy Hill Road, providing motorists with alternate access to both eastbound and westbound I-84. The new ramp is expected to reduce the traffic flow through the often-congested intersection of Berkshire Road and Wasserman Way.

The Exit 11 improvement project has been in the planning stages for more than 20 years.

Similarly, creation of the X10-CDD zone at Church Hill Road preceded a state roadway improvement project. That $2.85-million project created a standard signalized four-way intersection of Church Hill Road, Commerce Road, and Edmond Road, which is intended to improve traffic flow in that congested area.