P&Z Pursues Improved Control Of South Main Street Commercial Growth

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are continuing to explore regulatory approaches to better guide commercial growth along the South Main Street corridor.

The underlying goals of such tightened regulations would be: limiting traffic congestion, encouraging quality design in new commercial development, and preserving the thoroughfare’s remaining residential character, with the broad aim of preserving the local quality of life.

Since approving the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development in February 2004, P&Z members have been considering how best to manage commercial growth along South Main Street (Route 25), a heavily traveled corridor that has seen continuing commercial development and redevelopment during the past several years.

That continuing growth has created increased traffic volume, a situation which the P&Z hopes to better regulate through revised zoning rules that would encourage the flow of traffic between adjacent commercial properties via private driveway links.

Earlier this month, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil presented the P&Z’s current thinking on controlling South Main Street commercial growth to members of the Board of Selectmen and to the Economic Development Commission (EDC).

At a September 21 P&Z session, Mr O’Neil told P&Z members that the selectmen said they like the regulatory tools that the land use agency is considering for South Main Street. EDC members are still considering the matter, Mr O’Neil added.

P&Z member Robert Poulin said he likes the concept of revising the zoning regulations for commercial areas along South Main Street, but asked whether the land use agency would be wise to significantly increase its control over such development.

“We’re giving ourselves a lot of power, and that scares me,” he said.

Mr Poulin suggested that as a safeguard, any new zoning regulations on controlling commercial growth along South Main Street require that the P&Z approve such commercial development applications by a 4-to-1 majority, instead of a simple 3-to-2 majority vote.

Mr O’Neil urged that P&Z members investigate the effectiveness of existing comparable commercial zoning regulations in various other towns in the state.

P&Z members agreed to review such rules now in force in Southbury and Danbury.

Other zoning regulations under review include those from the Borough of Newtown, Middletown, Madison, Farmington, Wilton, New Canaan, Simsbury, East Granby, Avon, and Colchester.

From among those many towns’ regulatory approaches, the P&Z would ostensibly fashion a set of regulations that would apply to the South Main Street corridor, a 4.2-mile section of South Main Street lying between Borough Lane on the north and the Monroe border on the south.

The corridor now contains zones for residential/farming, business, and industrial uses. Much of South Main Street lying south of Borough Lane has commercial development, but sections of the western side of the street retain some single-family houses.

The southern section of South Main Street lies in the town’s Aquifer Protection District, 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 hundreds of individual domestic water supplies.

Design Districts

The town already has two commercial design districts — one in Sandy Hook Center, known as the Sandy Hook Design District, and the other in Hawleyville Center, known as the Hawleyville Center Design District-East.

In 1995, the P&Z created Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zoning to better regulate the mixed land uses in that area which centers on the intersection on Church Hill Road, Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, and Glen Road. SHDD zoning seeks to enhance the appearance of the area, encourage pedestrian amenities, and foster improved parking, with the goal of enhancing that area’s economy.

In 1999, the P&Z created Hawleyville Center Design District-East (HCDD-E) zoning for the commercial section of Hawleyville Center lying east of Hawleyville Road, near the Housatonic Railroad grade crossing. HCDD-E zoning has similar purposes similar to that of SHDD zoning.

In 2003, the Borough Zoning Commission created Village District zoning regulations for some commercial areas in the borough. Village District zoning seeks to have new commercial construction be aesthetically compatible with its physical surroundings. The borough zoners retain an architectural consultant who makes aesthetic recommendations to applicants for commercial construction in areas within the Village District.

Based on the specific regulatory approach that would be taken to better control commercial development along South Main Street, the P&Z’s zoning designation for that area may be known as a “design district,” a “village district” or some other name.

The Design Advisory Board (DAB), which was formed in September 2004, reviews new commercial construction proposed for areas that have SHDD and HCDD-E zoning. Such design reviews seek to have commercial development conform with the P&Z’s aesthetic standards for new commercial construction.

If a South Main Street Design District were created, the DAB ostensibly would review commercial development proposed for that area, as it now does for the two other town design districts. 

P&Z members plan to formulate a proposed new set commercial zoning regulations for the South Main Street corridor sometime in the first quarter of 2007.