Following a November 7 public hearing, at which a large gas station/convenience store proposed for a vacant 3.7-acre lot at 13 Hawleyville Road (Route 25) drew stiff opposition from the public, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members unanimously rejected the development project, deciding that such a facility would create worse traffic problems in an area that now experiences heavy congestion during commuter rush periods.

Voting to reject the application submitted by developer/owner 13 Hawleyville Road, LLC, were P&Z Chairman Don Mitchell, Jim Swift, Corrine Cox, Roy Meadows, and David Rosen.

Residents from the Hillcrest Drive and Whippoorwill Hill Road neighborhoods told P&Z members at the session that the area already has traffic problems which would become worse due to traffic flow generated by the presence of a large gas station/convenience store. The site is on the west side of Hawleyville Road, just south of eastbound Interstate 84’s Exit 9 off-ramp.

About 2.25 acres of the 3.7-acre site were proposed for alteration. The proposed convenience store would have had 5,293 square feet of floor space. The gas station would have had 16 fuel-filling positions.

Also, P&Z members heard from the public that such a facility is not needed because a similar project is under construction about 2,000 feet to the north at a 0.7-acre site at 26 Hawleyville Road. Both sites lie within the Hawleyville Center Design District (HCDD) zone.

(Read a detailed account of the P&Z’s decision to reject the project in the November 15 print edition of The Newtown Bee).