60,000 Square Feet—

P&Z Considers Increasing

 Retail Size Limit

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are considering proposed zoning rules changes that would allow a class of merchants to build the type of large stores here that have been excluded from town since 1996 due to store size restrictions.

Under expanded size limits, the types of merchants that would be allowed in town include major supermarkets and retailers such as Sports Authority, Raymour & Flanigan, Circuit City, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Attorney Ward Mazzucco of Danbury is the applicant for a zoning rule change that would increase the maximum size for a single store within a shopping center from the current limit of 40,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet of gross floor area.

Mr Mazzucco reportedly is seeking the expanded retail size limit in connection with the potential development of a new shopping center containing approximately 100,000 square feet of overall retail space on a 12-acre site on the west side of South Main Street, directly south of Sand Hill Plaza.

 Sand Hill Plaza contains 159,936 square feet of retail space. A 61,452-square-foot Super Stop & Shop supermarket is the anchor tenant in that complex. The P&Z approved allowing the Super Stop & Shop supermarket in Sand Hill Plaza in the late 1980s, well before the 1996 retail size limit went into effect.

The other large store in Newtown is the Big Y supermarket on Queen Street in the borough, which is roughly the same size as the Super Stop & Shop. Properties in the borough are governed by a separate set of zoning regulations administered by the Borough Zoning Commission. The borough zoners approved the Big Y project in January 1996.

The P&Z requires that a shopping center be located on a major road on a site of at least ten acres. Shopping centers are allowed in B-2, M-1, M-2, M-4, and M-6 zones.

In a presentation to P&Z members at a March 18 public hearing, Mr Mazzucco said the P&Z in 1996 changed the store size rules to keep “big box” stores out of Newtown, in order to exclude stores that generate much traffic. Such stores include Home Depot, Target, Costco, and BJ’s Wholesale Club, he said. Such stores are typically larger than 60,000 square feet.

None of the current P&Z members were on the agency in 1996, when the P&Z set the retail size limit at 40,000 square feet.

There has been much population growth in Newtown, Mr Mazzucco said, adding that between 1990 and 2000, the town’s population grew by more than 20 percent.

The 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development calls for increasing the local commercial tax base and increasing the number of economic development sites, he said.

Within Newtown, an increased population has generated a strong demand for supermarkets and for large retailers, but the town lacks such facilities, he said. There is more demand for such facilities than there was in 1996, when the 40,000-square-foot retail size limit took effect, he said.

The requested zoning rule change would allow “larger” stores to locate in Newtown, but would still keep out the “largest” stores, according to Mr Mazzucco.

Mr Mazzucco stressed that if a specific shopping center is proposed for a local site, the P&Z would retain its right to review the specifics of the proposal in determining the suitability of the design under the P&Z’s “special exception” review process.

In backing Mr Mazzucco’s rule change proposal, real estate appraiser Christopher Kerin said that although the local population increased by approximately 24 percent from 1990 to 2002, there was very little increase in retail space during that period. Consequently, residents tend to drive to other towns to shop, he said.

Mr Kerin provided statistics to P&Z members to demonstrate that the town has significantly less retail space per capita than comparable towns. Newtown is “underserved” with retail space, he said. A “typical healthy anchor store” in a shopping center contains between 40,000 and 60,000 square feet of floor space, he said.

P&Z member Robert Poulin asked whether a town the size of Newtown could support larger stores.

Mr Kerin said that residents now drive to other towns to shop. If large stores were present locally, such shopping and spending would be done here, he said.

The Greater Bridgeport Regional Planning Agency has endorsed increasing the local retail store size limit from 40,000 to 60,000 square feet.

The town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) also has endorsed the proposal. In a February 24 letter to the P&Z, the EDC writes, in part, “We are comfortable with the 60,000-square-foot limit, as it includes the needs of excellent retailers, while effectively excluding the very large retailers that we are not in a position to absorb into Newtown.”

Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker this week endorsed increasing the retail size limit to promote local economic development.

Opposition

Heidi Winslow served on the P&Z for more than 11 years, resigning from the agency in 2001 to become a Superior Court judge. Ms Winslow attended the March 18 P&Z public hearing to register her opposition to increasing the retail size limit.

Ms Winslow said that since her departure from the P&Z three years ago, she has stayed away from P&Z sessions, but decided to address the panel on the retail size limit.

Ms Winslow said she was proudest of the P&Z’s 1996 decision to limit store sizes to 40,000 square feet. That no large stores have located in Newtown since 1996 is not an accident, Ms Winslow said. P&Z members researched the implications of store size limits before enacting the 40,000-square-foot rule in 1996, she stressed.

P&Z members knew that having such a limit would bar more large stores from locating here, while realizing that that the Super Stop & Shop and Big Y supermarkets would be present, she said.

The presence of more big stores would bring traffic problems to Newtown, she said.

While added property tax revenue may be provided as a rationale for allowing larger stores, certain existing stores might be driven out by the presence of new larger stores, Ms Winslow said.  

Of the proposed retail size limit increase, she said, “You’re starting down the slippery slope…It’s a step in a direction that I think is not necessary.”

 Setting the retail size limit at 40,000 square feet was “intentional,” Ms Winslow stressed.

“Newtown is identified in many ways by its Main Street,” she said. “The idea is not to attract traffic from out of town,” she added. Ms Winslow questioned the property ax benefits from the presence of larger stores.

Response

In response, Mr Mazzucco said that much has changed since the P&Z enacted the retail size limit in 1996, especially the town’s population.

There are only a few suitable locations in town for such growth, he said. A suitably sized anchor store is an important component of a shopping center, he said.

The P&Z’s review process for such development would allow P&Z members to have discretion in making decisions on such applications, he said.

P&Z action on increasing the retail size limit from 40,000 to 60,000 square feet is slated for an upcoming session.