A town official is raising concerns about the environmental effects of a major industrial development project proposed for a 138-acre Hawleyville site, near Exit 9 of Interstate 84, saying that the construction work, as proposed, would require the earthen filling of about three acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands.

At a January 23 Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) public hearing on Hawleyville Properties LLC’s proposal to construct 583,500 square feet of enclosed industrial/office space, plus 826 parking spaces, Steve Maguire, senior town land use enforcement officer, said, “It’s very aggressive [development] for the property.”

The site is comprised of 10 Hawleyville Road, 90 Mount Pleasant Road, and 1 Sedor Lane. The steep, rugged terrain contains extensive wooded wetlands and areas with very dense to impenetrable brush. The physically problematic land has deterred developers from building at the site until now, with its proximity to an interstate highway interchange finally stimulating potential construction. The proposed complex would be the largest project of its kind ever developed locally.

The site is bordered on the north by eastbound I-84 and its Exit 9 on-ramp, on the northeast by agricultural open space land, on the southeast by the residential Whippoorwill Hill Road, on the south by Mount Pleasant Road, and on the west by Hawleyville Road.

Mr Maguire suggested to two representatives of the developer some ways in which the applicant could reduce the adverse environmental impacts of construction.

Civil engineer John Schmitz of BL Companies, representing the developer, pointed out that in an earlier version of the current development proposal, yet more construction had been envisioned in the form of a self-storage complex situated near Hawleyville Road. The self-storage component of the project has been dropped, he noted.

Mr Schmitz observed, “It’s a prime piece of land. It’s undeveloped. It’s right next to I-84.”

Soil scientist George Logan of REMA Ecological Services LLC, representing the developer, explained the wetlands aspects of the construction proposal to IWC members.

Mr Maguire said more technical information must be provided by the developer concerning the “environmental mitigation” measures that it would implement to physically compensate for damage done to environmentally sensitive areas due to proposed construction.

After the January 23 session, Mr Maguire said that there are other developmental approaches that the applicant could pursue in terms of construction at the site that would not involve the filling of wetlands.

Public Comment

During the public comment section of the hearing, Mary Wilson of Whippoorwill Hill Road told IWC members that the developer has kept the residents of that street well-informed about the specifics of the construction proposal. The developer has sought comments on the project, she added.

Ms Wilson, who formerly headed the town’s Conservation Commission, however, pointed out that the project would involve the filling of three acres of wetlands. Ms Wilson urged that the proposal be “reworked” to reduce its environmental impact.

Hawleyville Properties proposes the construction of 583,500 square feet of enclosed space in four buildings. The developer proposes three warehouses and one medical office building, plus related parking facilities. The proposed buildings would enclose about 13.4 acres of space.

The project would contain a 336,000-square-foot warehouse that would include 20,000 square feet of office space, a 137,500-square-foot warehouse that would include 10,000 square feet of office space, a 20,000-square-foot warehouse, and a three-story medical office building containing a total of 90,000 square feet of enclosed space.

In July 2018, Hawleyville Properties received a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the IWC for a 490,000-square-foot version of the industrial/office project. That version initially was proposed as a 525,000 square foot project but was reduced in size by the developer after IWC members said a project of that size would adversely affect wetlands on the site.

The 490,000 square foot project included one 250,000-square-foot warehouse and three medical offices buildings totaling 240,000 square feet in enclosed area. In the 490,000-square-foot version of the project, no wetlands would be filled.

The site proposed for development lies in a M-2A (Industrial) zone, where warehousing and medical office space are permitted land uses.

The 138-acre site contains approximately 15 acres of wetlands and 31 acres of adjacent “upland review areas,” both of which are subject to IWC review.

The development proposal calls for creating large, relatively flat areas on the sloped site where the four buildings and associated parking lots would be clustered.

Vehicular access to the site would be provided via a road extending onto the property from the east side of Hawleyville Road. That road would be situated across Hawleyville Road from Hawleyville Road’s intersection with Covered Bridge Road. Town officials have said they expect that such a four-way intersection would be controlled by a traffic signal.

The smaller version of the project, which the IWC approved in July, would have had a second accessway to the site via a dead-end road extending onto the land from Mount Pleasant Road, west of Whippoorwill Hill Road. That road would have led to three medical office buildings.

If the current version of the industrial/office project gains a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from IWC, it would also require approvals from the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z).

The site has long been eyed by local officials as a suitable place for local economic development, when considering the property’s proximity to an interstate highway interchange. The town’s 2016 expansion of the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system was intended to spark economic development in that area.

IWC members agreed to resume the public hearing on the developer’s requested wetlands/watercourses protection permit on February 13.