By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission Monday approved a permit renewal for Calamari Recycling Company for a volume reduction facility for construction and demolition debris at the company facility on Dump Road.
The panel had approved a permit for the facility in April 2004. But it was never built and the permit expired last June. Joel Nucci, a representative of the company that currently recycles metals on the site, said the company is ready to build the facility this year after economic and market conditions led to a delay in the original plan.
Nucci said the facility, to be located in a 105-square-foot by 105-square-foot building, could be completed in about six months. The facility will process and separate materials from construction and demolition debris for further recycling or disposal at a landfill. The state Department of Environmental Protection has granted a permit for the facility. Acting after a brief public hearing, the commission approved a permit extension for the facility through March 2014.
In other business, the commission set a March 15 public hearing on a special permit application from the town’s park and recreation commission for a basketball court at the former state commuter parking lot on the corner of West Avenue and Saybrook Road (Route 154).
The commission also appointed alternate Lillian Mosa as a regular member to replace Jeff Woods. A Republican, Woods had been appointed to the board of finance in December to replace Joel Marzi, another Republican who resigned from the finance board after he was elected to the board of selectmen in November. Woods had run unsuccessfully for the board of finance in last year’s town election.
A former chairman who had served on the commission for more than six years, Woods was the only member of the panel to vote last month in favor of the permit application for a large Rite Aid pharmacy on Westbrook Road. The commission rejected a special permit for the Rite Aid project on a 4-1 vote on Jan. 25. The decision has been appealed to Middlesex Superior Court.
Woods resigned from the zoning commission immediately after the Rite Aid vote. The elevation of Mosa as a regular member leaves a new opening for an alternate on the zoning commission.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The town has openings for representatives on two regional commissions, the Connecticut River Gateway Commission and the governing board for the Connecticut River Estuary Regional Planning Agency.
First Selectman Phil Miller announced the openings at Wednesday’s meeting of the board of selectmen, noting the town is currently “under represented”. Essex is entitled to two representatives on each commission.
The Connecticut River Gateway Commission, formed in the 1970s, is comprised of eight towns fronting on the lower Connecticut River, including Chester, Deep River, East Haddam, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook. The commission is charged with protecting the riverfront on both sides of the river through development standards, input to town land use boards, and occasional purchases of property or easement rights. The CRERPA directors govern the operation of the nine town regional planning agency. Both panels meet monthly, ususally at the regional planning office in Old Saybrook.
Miller told the selectmen he has spoken to Ivoryton resident Anthony Chirico about the Gateway Commission seat. A consultant on doing business in China, Chirico ran unsuccessfully for the State Senate in the 33rd District in 2000 and 2002, and later served on the zoning commission.
Miller said Fred Vollono, who has served on the Gateway Commission for several years, is ready to give up his seat. The other Essex seat on the commission is vacant. One Essex spot on the regional planning agency board of directors is also vacant.
If Chirico accepts the offer of appointment to the Gateway Commission, the town would still need one additional representative to the Gateway Commission, and one additional representative on the CRERPA board of directors. Interested volunteers should contact the first selectman.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission will hold a public hearing Monday on a permit renewal for the Calamari Recycling Company, but a scheduled hearing on the proposed basketball court at the former commuter parking lot has been postponed to March.
Marian Staye, zoning enforcement officer, said a “scheduling issue” led to the postponement of the public hearing on the park and recreation commission’s plan for a basketball court at the former state Department of Transportation commuter lot at the corner of West Avenue and Saybrook Road. She said some park and recreation commission members involved in the project who wanted to attend the hearing would be out of town Monday. Staye said the public hearing could be held at the commission’s next meeting on March 15.
The park and recreation commission has proposed a fenced and lighted regulation-size basketball court at the former commuter parking lot that DOT transferred to the town last year.
The board of selectmen has given a general endorsement to the project if the use is approved by the zoning commission. The zoning board of appeals last summer approved variances required for the project.
The commission had granted a special permit to Calamari Recycling Company in March 2004 for a processing facility for recycling of construction demolition materials. The proposed 105-square-foot by 105-square-foot building was to have been constructed on the company’s property at the end of Dump Road.
But the company never began construction of the facility and the five-year special permit expired last summer. The inland-wetlands commission last year granted a five-year renewal of the original wetlands permit for the facility. The zoning commission hearing on the permit renewal application begins Monday at 7 p.m. in town hall.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission’s Jan. 25 denial of a special permit for a large Rite Aid pharmacy at 124 Westbrook Road has been appealed to Middlesex Superior Court.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday by Old Saybrook lawyer Thomas Cloutier, who represented Acquisition Holdings LLC, the prospective developer of the pharmacy, during the town approval process. Also parties to the lawsuit are Thomas Rose of Cheshire and William Moran of Clinton, owners of the Oliver’s Tavern building that would have been demolished to make way for the pharmacy, and Robert and Virginia Olson of Portland, owners of the Essex Veterinary Clinic on the abutting 114 Westbrook Road property. The Rite Aid plans called for a secondary entrance through the veterinary clinic parcel, and Robert Olson has spoken in support of the project during the public hearings last fall.
The commission rejected a special permit for the proposed 14,673 square-foot pharmacy on a 4-1 vote. The panel had cited unresolved traffic issues as the key reason for the denial.
The court appeal contends the commission acted “contrary to Connecticut law and evidence presented at the public hearings” in denying the permit for a project that was consistent with the town’s plan of development. The suit contends the commission denied the permit application “despite the substantial evidence that the application complied with all applicable zoning regulations.” for the commercial zone on Westbrook Road, also known as Route 153. It contends “no credible evidence was presented to the commission to support its reasons for denial.”
The project had drawn opposition from many residents who claimed during the public hearings it was a “big box store,” that would worsen traffic problems at the busy intersection of Westbrook Road and Bokum Road. Rite Aid had planned to relocate from leased space in the nearby Bokum Center Shopping Plaza to the new building if the permit had received approval. The lawsuit has an April 6 return date.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission has approved a special permit for the a 24-hour fitness center in vacant space at the Bokum Center Shopping Plaza.
The panel Monday approved the permit for Snap Fitness, a Minnestoa-based franchise that is also opening another fitness center soon in Old Lyme. The commission acted after a two-part public hearing where no one opposed the use. The fitness center would be located in a 4,050-square-foot space that was previously occupied by the Essex Paint and Wallpaper store.
Members would access the center using electronic key cards. Robert Miller, a representative of the franchise, told the commission Monday the centers usually have about 400 members who sign up on a month-to-month basis. Marian Staye, zoning enforcement officer, said the 147 existing parking spaces at the shopping center would be adequate for the new use.
But the commission imposed a condition on the permit approval because some of the parking spaces are located in the back section of the shopping plaza. The commission required construction of a walkway on the east side of the shopping center along Westbrook Road for fitness center members parking in the back section. The panel also required that exterior lighting for the center be reviewed and approved by the zoning enforcement officer.
The permit was approved on a 4-1 vote, with member Susan Uihlein opposed. Uihlein contended approval of a 24-hour fitness center would open the door to other 24-hour businesses in Essex. “We’re not a 24 hour town,” she said.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission Monday denied a special permit for a proposed new and larger Rite Aid pharmacy on the Oliver’s Tavern property at 124 Westbrook Road.
After five months of review and a four-part public hearing attended by dozens of residents, the panel rejected the required permit on a 4-1 vote. Commission Chairman Alvin Wolfgram, members Hope Proctor and Susan Uihlein and alternate Lillian Mosa voted for the denial, with member Jeffrey Woods opposed.
The commission focused on traffic issues in rejecting the plan to construct a 14,673-square-foot Rite Aid on the parcel that now contains Oliver’s Tavern. If the plan was apprioved, the restaurant building would have been demolished and Rite Aid would have relocated from existing leased space at the Bokum Center Shopping Plaza on the opposite side of Westbrook Road, also known as Route 153.
Wolfgram, who led the discussion, said he was not satisfied with a traffic study sponsored by the applicant, Acquisition Holdings LLC of Hartford, because it did not include traffic counts from the summer months. The study, done by Glastonbury-based traffic engineer Bruce Hillison, had concluded the new pharmacy would have “no adverse effect on the pattern, flow, intensity, or character of traffic in the area.”
But Wolfgram contended the study, and a review done by a traffic consultant selected by the commission, local resident Susan Van Benschoten, raised questions about traffic safety . He said the issues included the timing of an improved pedestrian crosswalk in relation to traffic signals at the busy intersection of Westbrook Road and Bokum Road, and the location of entrances for the new Rite Aid and the existing shopping plaza.
Woods questioned whether the commission was setting up a situation “where nobody is going to meet the criteria for traffic.” Woods said he does not believe approval of the Rite Aid in a commercial zone with mixed uses would establish a precedent for other large stores on Route 153. Mosa said a smaller store, in the range of 11,000 square feet, would generate less traffic and be more suitable for the area.
Robert Landino, a former state representative who represented Acquisition Holdings, and Thomas Cloutier, the attorney for the partnership, declined to comment after the vote on whether they would appeal the decision to Middlesex Superior Court.
By: Charles Stannard
DEEP RIVER–The planning and zoning commission has approved a special permit allowing a veterinary clinic at the 171 Winthrop Road structure that previously housed the Clubhouse child care program.
Commission Chairman Jonathan Kastner said the panel acted after a public hearing Thursday where no one objected to the use. The permit will allow Christine Scruggs, an East Lyme-based veterinarian, to open a clinic in the large house that has been vacant since the Clubhouse child care program closed in the fall of 2006.
The commission had assisted Scruggs in putting the vacant structure to use when it acted last month to approve a zone change for the Route 80 parcel from residential to commercial/industrial park. A zone change was needed because town zoning regulations do not permit veterinary clinics in a residential zone. No one objected to the zone change when a public hearing was held last month.
By Charles Stannard
ESSEX— The zoning commission has deferred discussion of the permit applications for a large Rite Aid pharmacy on Westbrook Road to its Jan. 25 meeting.
Commission Chairman Al Wolfgram announced at Monday’s meeting that all discussion of the controversial proposal for a 14,763 square-foot pharmacy would be held at the Jan. 25 meeting. The commission closed a four-part public hearing on the permit applications on Nov. 30, and now has 65 days, or until the first week of February, to vote on the applications.
The panel Monday also continued to Jan. 25 the public hearing on a permit application for a Snap Fitness 24-hour fitness center at the Bokum Center Shopping Plaza. The fitness center would be located on a vacant 4,050 square-foot space formerly occupied by the Essex Paint and Wallpaper store.
Michele Rossignoll, a representative of the Minnesota-based fitness franchise, said club members would access the center through a key card system. The center would be monitored by surveilance cameras.
Rossignoll said Snap Fitness clubs, which are now operated in Newtown and Ridgefield with one planned for Old Lyme, each have an average of 400 members. But she said the peak occupancy for the centers at any given time would be 10 to 12 people.
Wolfgram asked Rossignoll to provide documentation of the peak occupancy because of limited parking at the shopping center. “That will help us justify where we are in the parking situation,” he said.
The shopping plaza, built in the mid 1980s, has a total of 147 parking spaces. It also houses an IGA grocery store, a liquor store, and a Rite Aid pharmacy that would relocate if the plan for a larger pharmacy is approved. No one spoke in support, or in opposition, to the fitness center during Monday’s hearing.
By: Charles Stannard
ESSEX– The zoning commission will hold a public hearing Monday, December 21st on a special permit application for a Snap Fitness 24/7 fitness studio at the Bokum Center Shopping Plaza on Westbrook Road.
The commission, in a session scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in town hall, may also begin its discussion of the controversial proposal for a large Rite Aid pharmacy on the site of the existing Oliver’s Tavern building at 124 Westbrook Road. The panel closed a four-part public hearing on permit applications for proposed 14,763 square-foot pharmacy on Nov. 30. The commission has 65 days, or until the first week of February, to act on the permit applications.
The Snap Fitness studio, a franchise of a Chanhasen, Minn.-based company, would be located in the 4,050 square-foot space at the shopping plaza that was formerly occupied by the Essex Paint and Wallpaper store. Members of the fitness club would have access through a key-card security system.
By: Charles Stannard
DEEP RIVER— The planning and zoning commission has approved a zone change that allows it to consider a proposed veterinary clinic at the former Clubhouse child care center site on Route 80.
Commission Chairman Jonathan Kastner said the panel acted after a public hearing Thursday where the change from residential to commercial/industrial park attracted no opposition. The zone change was approved unanimously.
The zone change allows the commission to consider a special permit application from Christine Scruggs, an East Lyme-based veterinarian who is interested in buying the property. The large house at 171 Winthrop Road, also known as Route 80, housed the Clubhouse child care center for several years earlier in the decade, The child care program, which began in Essex in the 1990s, closed abruptly in November 2006. The vacant structure is now owned by a bank.
A zone change was needed because town zoning regulations do not allow veterinary clinics in a residential zone. The back section of the parcel abuts town-owned land that contains an industrial park. Kastner said a public hearing on Scruggs permit application for a veterinary clinic on the site will be held on Jan. 21.
In other business, the commission elected officers for 2010. Kastner, who works as an aide at town hall, will continue as chairman. A 20-year member of the commission, Kastner has served as chairman for the past five years. The commission returned Nancy Fischbach as vice-chairman, with member Janet Edgarton continuing as commission secretary.
