South Main Street Zoning Rules Enacted To Preserve New England Character

By Andrew Gorosko

After several years of discussion, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have enacted a new set of zoning regulations for the 4.2-mile-long South Main Street (Route 25) corridor to more tightly control commercial design there to preserve the area’s New England character, including its residential and natural aspects.

After discussion at a July 19 session, P&Z members unanimously approved the South Main Street Village Design District (SMSVDD) zoning regulations for the area extending from Borough Lane southward to the Monroe town line. The rules apply to frontage lots on South Main Street. 

The new regulations provide the P&Z with more control concerning the design of new construction, substantial reconstruction, and the rehabilitation of properties, all of which are visible from public roads. The zoning rules allow the P&Z to more tightly control architectural designs, building placements, some traffic aspects of projects, and the maintenance of views from public places.

The heavily traveled South Main Street corridor has seen continuing commercial development and redevelopment during the past several years. Sections of the west side of South Main Street contain some single-family houses.

The southern section of South Main Street lies in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area above the Pootatuck Aquifer where development is tightly regulated for environmental protection reasons. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies, plus many individual domestic water supplies.

P&Z members have been discussing enacting new zoning regulations for South Main Street since before passage of the March 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. In that plan, such zoning is listed as a mechanism to “promote the development of a mix of uses including commercial, office, and service uses, and where appropriate, housing, to bring vitality and an uplifted visual quality to the town’s primary commercial area.”           

On July 19, P&Z members approved three sets of rule changes for SMSVDD zoning. One set of rule changes modifies the 2004 Town Plan to allow SMSVDD zoning. Another set of changes specifies the SMSVDD zoning regulations. A third set of changes modifies the town zoning map to depict the SMSVDD zone.

The SMSVDD zone is an “overlay zone,” which overlays preexisting Farming, Residential, Business, and Manufacturing zones which lie beneath it, adding more zoning regulations for development in that area.

Under the new zoning rules, the town’s Design Advisory Board (DAB) would review proposed commercial construction in the South Main Street corridor and make aesthetic recommendations to the applicants.

The underlying aims of the new zoning regulations are: limiting traffic congestion, encouraging quality visual design in commercial development, and preserving the thoroughfare’s remaining residential character, with the broad goal of preserving the local quality of life.

In approving SMSVDD zoning, P&Z members decided that the corridor has the distinctive character and landscape, and in some areas, the historic value that is worthy of protection under applicable state law.

SMSVDD Discussion

In discussion at a July 19 public hearing on the SMSVDD zoning project, which preceded the P&Z’s action on the matter, Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker said the zoning rules would suitably aid the P&Z in shaping the design of new commercial development along South Main Street.

“This is the face of the community…There’s probably more traffic on that road than any other in the community,” she said.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said, “It’s a gateway to our town. It’s a gateway to our borough.”

SMSVDD zoning would force a design review of commercial development proposals by the Design Advisory Board, rather than the P&Z simply recommending that the DAB make such a review, she said.

Ms Dean termed the SMSVDD zoning approach “a good example of beneficial planning.” P&Z members do not want South Main Street corridor traffic congestion to increase, she said. Also, the “residential character” existing along the west side of South Main Street should remain in place, she said.

“We meet the statutory definition of a ‘village district,’” said Ms Dean, adding that the South Main Street corridor is an appropriate place to use the commercial design controls that state law allows municipal zoning agencies to enact.

Attorney Robert Hall, representing the owners of Sand Hill Plaza and the owners of the planned Plaza South shopping center, contested Ms Dean’s assertion that the “village district” zoning regulations are appropriate for use in the South Main corridor.

Mr Hall said that although the P&Z’s intentions may be good, its use of the “village district” zoning regulations is inappropriate.

“I think you’re stepping into some very difficult issues here,” he said. Mr Hall contends that the P&Z misinterprets the state’s “village district” zoning law in applying it to the South Main Street corridor in the form of SMSVDD zoning.

Employing the state law would provide the P&Z with far too much discretion in reviewing and acting upon proposed commercial development and redevelopment projects, Mr Hall has said.

Ms Stocker said the “village district” rules provide the P&Z with a “logical approach” to controlling commercial design, noting that the agency does not want five-story, glass-facade buildings with frontal parking lots built alongside South Main Street.

At the close of the public hearing, P&Z members considered whether they should enact SMSVDD zoning that night or instead wait to refine their motions for action.

Ms Dean urged action on the topic, noting that P&Z members had spent the past two years crafting the new regulations.

P&Z members then approved the three aspects of the SMSVDD rules — zoning regulations, zoning map changes, and town plan revisions.