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12/12/2018 11:00 PMRepresentatives from the company that had proposed a controversial waste recycling facility at 30 Old Post Road (and filed a lawsuit, since withdrawn, when their proposal was denied) met with the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) to discuss a zoning change that could potentially lead to the development of a recreation center on the site.
Three representatives from Old Post Realty, the company that owns the property located at 30 Old Post Road, addressed the PZC at a meeting on Dec. 10. Owners Douglas and Kenneth Dobriner and business manager Joann Wylie told the commission that while no formal plans have been laid, it is their intention to pursue building an indoor recreational sports center in the space. In order for such a project to move forward, there are several changes to the zoning that will need to happen.
John Guszkowski, the town’s consultant planner, told the PZC that for a recreational sports use to be approved for the property the commission would need to change the zoning for the area. Specifically, Guszkowski said the commission would need to change the size limits for the property and allow for a special exception in the zone area. Currently, there is a maximum of 70,000 square feet allowed for a new structure. A special exception is needed because an indoor recreational sports facility is allowed only in the I-1 Zone, not in the I-2 zone where the property is located.
Earlier developer interest in building a similar indoor sports facility at the vacant Unilever headquarters site has yet to progress. In 2013, the town also disbursed a $200,000 grant to Shoreline Ice, LLC, to conduct a feasibility study to build an ice rink at the former dump site on Old Nod Road; that effort also failed.
Addressing the PZC, Douglas Dobriner spoke of the sports success in area schools such as Quinnipiac University in hockey and The Morgan School in soccer, and noted the lack of indoor facilities for those sports in the area.
Dobriner said the size of the property and its proximity to downtown and the highway made it attractive for development. Wylie spoke of the mutual benefit to the town a recreational sports facility on the property could create, as in theory families that use the facility could also head into town and spend money at other destinations in town.
Wylie characterized the Dobriners as taxpayers and businessmen who are eager to properly introduce themselves to the community and work with the town. PZC Chairman Michael Rossi noted the eagerness of the owners to get started on a project for the site, but cautioned them about the length of time proposals take to pass.
Rossi said changing the zoning regulations alone would take two months minimum, then the developers would need to come forward with their specific proposals.
The PZC was largely receptive to the idea, however. Members praised the developers for getting an early start on finding a new use for the site, and for being in front of the commission in person to introduce themselves.
“I should have been here three years ago,” Dobriner acknowledged.
During the spring 2018, an application by Shoreline Rail & Recycling (SRR) to build a waste recycling plant drew intense public opposition. The proposed facility would have been 94,500 square feet and located at the site of a former Unilever warehouse that collapsed in a 2013 snowstorm. According to George Andrews of Louriero Engineering Associates, a company that had represented SRR in front of the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC), the proposed facility would have been for storing waste composed of “construction and demolition debris.”
SRR withdrew its application in May, after several member of the IWC indicated they were leaning toward voting “No” on the application at the commission’s next meeting. In June, SRR submitted a new application before the IWC, only to once again withdraw the application in early August, after the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) passed a zoning amendment that would prohibit the type of use that the proposed facility would have engaged in. Soon after, Old Post Realty challenged the PZC amendment in State Superior Court in Middletown.
In October, Old Post Realty filed a motion to withdraw its appeal; the withdrawal was granted by a judge on Dec. 10.
At three public hearings on the proposal in the spring, no member of the public spoke in favor of the application, while dozens spoke against the proposal. Members of the public expressed concerns about the potential contamination to wetlands on the property, safety concerns, and health issues associated with the debris that could be processed at the site.
Following the announcement of the withdrawal of the appeal, the developers met with the Clinton Economic Development Commission to discuss other potential uses for the site.