Final Local Hurdle—

AFS Industrial Plan Gains P&Z Approval

By Andrew Gorosko

A technology firm has cleared the third of three local regulatory hurdles in gaining required town approvals for a large-scale industrial redevelopment project at an Edmond Road site.

Following a July 15 public hearing, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members unanimously approved site development plans for Advanced Fusion Systems, LLC’s (AFS), project planned for a 24-acre site at 11 Edmond Road, near Interstate 84. The vacant industrial building on the site would be expanded and put back into use by AFS as a manufacturing plant and a research/development facility.

On July 14, the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) unanimously approved a wetlands protection permit for the AFS project. Last April, AFS received several zoning variances for the project from the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).

Construction work at the site is expected to start soon, according to architect Philip Clark of Claris Construction, Inc, representing AFS.

The expansion of an existing industrial building at the site would involve the use of “tilt-up” concrete walls that would be tilted up into place to expand the structure, he said. A similar technique was used in the past during the construction of two large field houses for the Newtown Youth Academy at Fairfield Hills.

The AFS site would be enclosed by a security fence and gated to control access to the property, according to engineer Steve Sullivan of CCA, LLC, of Brookfield, representing the applicant. Such security structures are required by the federal government for defense contractors such as AFS.

The property would receive water service from the United Water public water supply and have municipal sanitary sewer service, Mr Sullivan said. An existing water storage tank on the site would be demolished. A fire sprinkler system would be installed. Additional fire hydrants would be placed on the property. Site lighting would comply with applicable “Dark Sky” standards.

Devices intended to control the water quality of stormwater draining from the property would be installed at the site, Mr Sullivan said. That stormwater would drain into Tom Brook at existing drainage points, he said. 

Traffic Study

Bruce Hillson of Traffic Engineering Solutions of Glastonbury, representing the applicant, described the traffic aspects of the redevelopment project.

Initially, AFS would employ about 40 people, Mr Hillson said, adding that the firm’s employee roster eventually would rise upwards of 250 people. Work at the facility would be spread across three shifts, he added.

A 250-person workforce would occur “a number of years down the road,” Mr Hillson explained.

Mr Hillson said that having a 250-person staff at the facility would create traffic that would result in a decreased “level of service” for motorists using the nearby intersection of Edmond Road and Church Hill Road. That T-shaped intersection currently poses travel delays for motorists seeking to exit southbound Edmond Road and make a left turn onto eastbound Church Hill Road. Traffic exiting Edmond Road is controlled by a stop sign.

In the future, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) plans to create a four-way signalized intersection of Church Hill Road, Edmond Road, and Commerce Road to improve the general traffic flow in that area. Under that plan, a new intersection of Edmond Road and Church Hill Road would be created to the west of that existing intersection at a point where Church Hill Road, Edmond Road, and Commerce Road would meet at a four-way intersection with a traffic signal.

Mr Hillson said that AFS supports such an intersection reconfiguration, noting that it would improve the level of service for motorists at the point where Edmond Road and Church Hill Road would meet.

Mr Hillson said the AFS project would not require the developer to make road improvements off of the AFS site. The developer has met with the State Traffic Commission (STC) and will be applying to the STC for certain traffic permits, he said.

Mr Hillson said that the former user of the now-vacant industrial building on the Edmond Road site created much more truck traffic than AFS would generate. The existing building formerly was occupied by Pitney-Bowes, Inc.

P&Z member Jane Brymer asked whether the traffic plans for the AFS project had been presented to the Police Commission, which serves as the local traffic authority, for its review and comment. Mr Hillson responded that the plans had not been presented to that agency.

Particulars

AFS proposes adding about 30,800 square feet of enclosed space to an existing vacant 211,282-square-foot industrial building. The firm also wants to build a 20,000-square-foot high-walled, roofless structure for a future electric substation.

It also wants to expand parking areas on the site by about 50 percent, increasing the number of vehicle spaces from 196 to 296 spaces. The new construction would add 1.8 acres of impervious surfaces to the site.

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

AFS President Curtis Birnbach told P&Z members that AFS would manufacture environmental pollution remediation equipment that is used to clean up contamination problems stemming from the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin.

Also, AFS’s products would be used to protect the nation’s electrical power supply grid in the event of disruptive solar storms or terrorist attacks, he said. Some of the firm’s work would be performed for the US Department of Defense, he said.

Eventually, the firm would develop equipment for the nuclear fusion power industry, he said. AFS would make components in Newtown that would be assembled elsewhere, possibly in eastern Connecticut, for the nuclear fusion power industry, he said.

At the July 15 P&Z public hearing that preceded the P&Z’s vote of approval, Robert Rau, chairman of the town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC), urged the P&Z to approve the project swiftly.

AFS would become the town’s largest property taxpayer, Mr Rau said. AFS’s presence in town would attract other businesses to town which would supply AFS, he said. The firm would eventually employ 250 people, he added.

Robert Morey of 42 The Boulevard is an EDC member who lives near the AFS site.

At the P&Z hearing, Mr Morey posed some questions about when construction work would start and how long it would last. Mr Morey said he hopes that the project works out well for AFS.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean noted that the IWC had conducted a thorough review of the environmental protection aspects of the AFS project.

In their motion to approve the site development plans, P&Z members decided that the project meets the tenets of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, adheres to the regulations for site development plans, and is consistent with the zoning regulations for the M-1 (Industrial) zone.