By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
A Citgo gas station and convenience store is planned for this former Ford’s Sunoco station, which faces Middlebury Road in Middlebury. It is at the corner of Glenwood Avenue, seen on the left. (Terrence McAuliffe photo)
The Middlebury Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) on Jan. 7 reviewed a site plan application by Mir Sabbir Ahmed D/B/A Sabbir Properties LLC of Terryville for a change in use of the former Ford’s Sunoco station at 550 Middlebury Road from a service station to a service station/convenience store. Ahmed acquired the the property from Robert and Kerrie Ford last October, and his New Milford-based A.N.Z. Petroleum Co. plans to open a Citgo gasoline station there.
Section 52 of Middlebury’s Special Exception zoning regulations requires the review and states it “is intended to ensure that the design and layout of the site, and the proposed uses will constitute suitable and appropriate development in character with the neighborhood and not result in a decrease to the present and potential use of the area in which it is to be located.” Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) Curtis Bosco said the impact evaluation would not have been necessary if the site had simply reopened as a service station with only a change in gasoline brands. In that case, a certificate of zoning compliance would have been issued. The addition of a convenience store brought Section 52 into play.
In December, the Conservation Commission decided permits for reopening the station could be handled administratively by Wetlands Enforcement Office Deborah Seavey. They made that decision after Waterbury professional engineer and land surveyor Scott Meyers said drainage would not be changed and impervious surfaces only slightly increased, with less impact on town drains after site work was completed. Meyers said the new owners planned to open a Citgo gas station/convenience store on the same footprint and add parking in the rear where junk cars were formerly stored.
P&Z Chairman Terry Smith told commissioners he had referred the proposed site plan to town planner Brian Miller, who recently completed revisions to the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, for comments. Miller said, “This parcel is an important part of the Middlebury Village area, One important part of this is to enhance the pedestrian environment, and the plan envisions a sidewalk on the north side of Middlebury Road. The redevelopment of this property really should have a sidewalk in front of it.”
Miller said there didn’t appear to be enough room in the landscaped area for a sidewalk, although he praised the elimination of corner station access by filling in the cuts. He asked for more details on landscaping and shrubbery, saying, “This is like the prime corner of what is going to be Middlebury Village … I know you’re not going to have anything high there because of sight lines and things like that, but on the corner there may be room to put something interesting. It doesn’t have to be big, it doesn’t have to be elaborate, but something that improves it.”
He told Smith the plan should have much more detail in the landscape plan about plant species, ground cover, sizes, and the treatment of the 50-foot setback area up Glenwood Avenue. Miller didn’t comment on the exterior stucco treatment of the building, saying architectural comments would come from the Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC), but he did comment on the need for lighting details and the need to move toward covered lighting for the benefit of nearby residential properties. “The plan really should be more specific on everything that’s going to be retained, everything that’s going to be improved, and everything that’s going to be removed.”
In continuing the public hearing to Feb. 4, Chairman Smith told Miller to forward his comments to Meyers and instructed Bosco to get the architectural plans to the EIDC for its Jan. 26 meeting.
Later in the meeting, in his monthly report, Bosco said he had just been contacted by the Connecticut Department of Transportation on possible improvements to the intersection of Middlebury Road and Glenwood Avenue, the same corner as the gas station. Commissioner Matthew Robison remarked, “The street, the sidewalk, the parking could be one big effort,” and Miller commented the possible combined work was serendipitous.
Bosco said he didn’t have details, but speculated a right-turn lane might be created on the state right of way, an area currently used by cars at the gas station pumps. On Jan. 14, Bosco said via telephone that the improvements will be more limited than he first thought. They probably will include new traffic light poles and a repositioning of them, but they won’t necessarily involve widening the road.
The next regular P&Z meeting will be Thursday, Feb. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Shepardson Community Center.
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