Office/Storage Complex Proposed For Mt Pleasant Road

By Andrew Gorosko

Following their review of a traffic study, Police Commission members this week, serving as the traffic authority, endorsed the traffic flow and vehicle-access aspects of an office/storage complex proposed for 90 Mt Pleasant Road (State Route 25/US Route 6).

At an October 2 Police Commission session, traffic engineer Michael Galante of Frederick P. Clark Associates Inc, representing Claris Construction, Inc, explained the traffic implications of the project, which would include a 34,500-square-foot office building in a first phase, an additional 42,600 square feet of storage buildings in a second phase, and potentially more development in additional phases, depending upon future economic conditions.

The storage buildings would hold small units where individuals could store various objects.

Town assessment records list the 33-acre parcel as being owned by a firm known as 90 Mt Pleasant Road, LLC.

The sloped site lies on the north side of Mt Pleasant Road, across Mt Pleasant Road from Tory Lane. The southeastern section of the 33-acre site borders the rear boundary lines of multiple residential properties which have frontage on Whippoorwill Hill Road.

The proposed office building would be located near Mt Pleasant Road on the deep 33-acre site.

Mt Pleasant Road in that area carries about 10,000 vehicles daily. The posted speed limit in that area is 45 miles per hour. A private driveway would serve the site.

According to documents submitted to the Police Commission, the proposed development would not have a significant traffic impact on the Exit 9 Interchange of Interstate 84 in Hawleyville.

However, when considering the potential for the development of enclosed space exceeding the 77,100 square feet of proposed office/storage space, there would need to be more traffic analysis performed, according to the traffic study.

Mr Galante told Police Commission members that because Mt Pleasant Road is a state road, the development proposal would receive state Department of Transportation (DOT) traffic review for an “encroachment permit” to link a driveway to Mt Pleasant Road.

In response to Police Commission concerns, Mr Galante said the applicant for the office/storage project would review providing a secondary accessway to the site.

Claris Construction, Inc, would occupy the proposed office building.

Claris had proposed creating an office building for itself at the site of Woodbury Hall at the town-owned Fairfield Hills core campus, but plans for that project fell through in June.

Claris, the town, and a Fairfield Hills Authority subcommittee that had been involved in lease negotiations could not reach an agreement on the proposal.

The developer is expected to submit a proposal for an office/storage complex to the town’s land use agencies for review.