In October the developer, Churchill & Banks, made an informal presentation to the town’s Planning & Zoning Commission. The initial proposal centered on malls on either side of Route 1 to be called Hilltop Centre, North Hill and South Hill Shoppes. A Target Department store was slated for the North side, near the Branford River, but located on a steep hill from which its illuminating presence would be seen for miles around, especially by those driving on I-95 and Route 1 at exit 56.
But a cool P & Z reception to the initial plan and the developer’s good sense to know when to back off have prevailed. George A. Cioe, a senior vice-president of the company, told the Eagle that the developer has withdrawn plans to develop on the North side of Route I, where the original Hilltop Orchards store was located.First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris has told the Branford Review that large developments like this one probably belong along the I-95 exit 53 corridor, where prior administrations also have envisioned them. The idea of book-ending malls at exit 53 on one end of town and exit 56 on the other is of deep concern to town planners because it could adversely affect the Town’s commitment to reinvigorate downtown Branford.The developer now plans to concentrate on the South side only, behind the Shop & Stop. If the deal goes through, Target would now be on the South side, near Stop & Shop, which plans to build a much larger, state-of-the art supermarket. But none of the Inland Wetland Commissioners offered any encouragement.Commissioner Wesley Vietzke was blunt: “You ought to know, this Commission has never seen a wetland it didn’t like. No matter what state of repair it is in, no matter what has happened to it.”The 49.2-acre site, once farmland, is currently zoned as light industrial. This zoning precludes retail use, but the developers envision a retail mecca anyway, stretching over 300,000 square feet.But how to get it? What Churchill & Banks could do is seek a zoning change. But they know how difficult that would be. Instead they are taking another route— they will seek P&Z approval to create a Planned Development District. (PDD.)The reason why developers like PDD’s is that they can avoid the underlying zoning rules that govern land use. Under Section 35 of its regulations, the Branford P&Z “may” establish a PDD if certain conditions are met. The provisions of section 35 are “designed to permit modification of the strict applications of the standards and provisions of the Zoning laws.”The process begins with a petition to the P&Z signed by the owners of the land explaining why the zoning rules should be modified. A basic development plan must also be submitted. This may be one of the few times a PDD has been sought for a vast commercial venture.The site is currently owned by Wayne Cooke, whose family had farmed Hilltop Orchards property for some 300 years. The family store, known in its heyday for its great pies, went out of business several years ago. Cooke’s deal with the developers, who are engaged in a joint venture with Kimco Realty, a shopping mall entrepreneur, is contingent upon obtaining the necessary town permits.After the P & Z presentation in October, Ellsworth McGuigan, the P& Z Chair, wrote David Gibson, the developer’s local land use attorney, to state the obvious about the dramatic topography: the North side of the property contained “a hundred-foot change in elevation from front to rear, with a severe slope down to the Branford River.”The letter, dated Nov. 30th, said “transforming such a site into the proposed development would require extraordinary modification of the terrain.” McGuigan refused even a preliminary comment on the proposal unless the Commission was given “more technical information on how such a radical modification of the site would be accomplished.”Churchill & Banks backed off on the North side. Cooke has indicated his family was relieved because they were concerned about the placement of a large Target store so close to the Branford River.Back to drawing boards they went.The overall design would be reduced from 530,000 to 300,000 square feet, with parking space for 1,800 cars. Besides Target and a new Stop and Shop, there would be a 6,000 square foot restaurant, and at least two other so-called “junior anchors,” one 25,000 square feet and one 20,000 square feet.This time there was no discussion of traffic, estimated under the previous proposal at 15,000 to 35,000 trips a day, a figure McGuigan and other P&Z commissioners were upset about, especially since Route 1 is a narrow two-lane road.So far Churchill & Banks has filed no formal applications with the town. But it did bring a team of six experts to the IWC meeting. They included Cioe, Gibson, Scott Consoli, the developer’s chief attorney and a partner at Brown & Rudnick in Hartford, David Taglianetti, the project manager, Greg O’Brien, a public relations strategist and Dean Gustafson, the developer’s engineer and soil scientist .The company’s purpose, it said, was to engage in a “preliminary discussion.” Its arrival, without an application or any other piece of paper for that matter, was viewed as most unusual by Commissioner Suzanne Botta, and she said so.“Might we address the procedure before we go on? I would rather have a sense of what it is we are trying to do here,” she said.Gibson explained the requirements and time lines for a Planned Development District under town and state law. He also explained a system of approvals that move in tandem between the P& Z and IWC.After listening to Attorney Gibson’s long explanation of the mechanics of the statute, Commissioner James Killelea looked at Town Attorney Shelley Marcus and asked: “Attorney Marcus: Are you generally comfortable with this application?”Marcus replied: “I am comfortable with the Commission moving forward with such a procedure.” She held a book on state zoning statutes on her lap.Marcus said she had “met about this once before. I was asked to look at it. And then we met on it again at length this morning,” she said of the meeting at Town Hall with Town Planner Shirley Rasmussen and IWC officer Diana Ross.Marcus said “we even went to check your application form. And on your application form there is a place to check for regulated activity or for review under different sections of the statute. So your application form even contemplates something like this under the statutes. From my review of the statutes there is also some case law which I would be happy to review with you. It seems like you can certainly do it,” said the helpful Ms. Marcus.In answer to a question, Consoli said he would get Inland Wetlands information about how other towns and cities have dealt with PDD’s.Dean Gustafson, the developer’s engineer, discussed the Wetland issues. There were two key sets of wetlands on the property, he said.The Commission knew all about them because over the years they have been the subject of IWC “enforcement activity,” Daniel Shapiro, the IWC chair, said in a reference to recurring wetlands and soil problems on the property.Gustafson told the commissioners “that it should be assured that while we have some unavoidable loss of wetlands here, we are more than compensating for the wetland loss by adding a buffer and other enhancements to another section of the land.”Each commissioner seemed amazed when Gustafson went on to say that the project would require removing 30,000 square feet or three-quarters of an acre of Wetlands in order to build the mall.“Your challenge for this commission is to show a prudent alternative for taking the wetlands,” Shapiro said. “I will put you on notice that for the 10 or 12 years that I have been Chair and since I have been involved in the commission beginning in 1992, we may have filled in a 10th of an acre or something like that. So this would be an unprecedented application—30, 000 square feet or three-quarters of an acre”Gibson concentrated on angling his legal analysis toward the PDD statutes. Ms. Marcus seemed to go along with his interpretations, leaving the IWC to draw its own conclusions.It was good to hear a Commission speak its mind. The message was loud and clear. Be wary of what you are proposing to take away before you come back.The next step for the Hilltop developers is to petition the P & Z for a Planned Development District. Stay tuned. ###
Do Branford citizens really want a town with Wal-Mart at one end and Target at the other end with complete gridlock in between? I don't think so. But I wonder if Marcus/Morris is going to do their best to get this retail monstrosity built anyway...maybe that's why Cheryl wants to run for First Selectman again?