October 21, 2009
Chairman Pomeroy called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was taped.
Members Present: D. Pomeroy, A. Delelle, A. Havican, G. Ploski
Alternates Present: D. Santoro
Absent: J. Crumb, G. Graveline (Alt.), Ed Miller (Alt.)
Chairman Pomeroy seated D. Santoro for J. Crumb.
Approval of Minutes:
Motion by A. Havican, seconded by D. Santoro to approve the October 7, 2009 minutes. Unanimous.
Correspondence:
1. 10/4/09 Prospect WPCA Notification of Sewer Moratorium;
2. 10/4/09 Prospect WPCA Notification of Upcoming Workshop;
3. UCONN, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources - Journal Summer/Fall 2009;
4. ClearScapes - Newsletter Fall 2009;
5. 10/21/09 report from Bob Oley, P.E., Land-Tech Consultants, Inc. re: Villa Rosa Banquet
Facility Special Permit Application
Chairman Pomeroy read the 10/4/09 letter from Prospect WPCA regarding notification of a sewer moratorium until July 2010 into the record.
Chairman Pomeroy noted for the record that the correspondence received from Land-Tech Consultants, Inc. will be added to the special permit application file for the proposed banquet facility at 157 Waterbury Road.
Motion by D. Santoro, seconded by A. Delelle to accept the correspondence. Unanimous.
Public Participation: None
New Business: None
Public Hearing:
7:10 p.m. Adoption of the Open Space Plan as an Amendment to Prospect’s existing Plan of Conservation and Development as proposed by The Open Space Planning Subcommittee of the Prospect Conservation Commission. Chairman Pomeroy asked for comments from the public and/or commission. Al Delelle, a member of the Prospect Open Space Purchase Advisory Committee, stated that an article has been placed in this month’s edition of the Prospect Pages which will briefly outline the proposed Open Space Plan and inform town residents about the public hearing and that the complete plan is available for their review on the town’s website. With no further comments, Motion by A. Havican, seconded by A. Delelle to continue the public hearing on the adoption of the Open Space Plan as an Amendment to Prospect’s existing Plan of Conservation and Development as proposed by The Open Space Planning Subcommittee of the Prospect Conservation and Commission until November 4, 2009 at 7:10 p.m. Unanimous.
7:20 p.m. Giuseppe Geloso, 157 Waterbury Road - Special Permit Application for a Banquet Facility. Chairman Pomeroy read into record the “Notice of Public Hearing” for this special permit application as it appeared in the Republican American on October 9th & 16th, 2009. Chairman Pomeroy opened the public hearing and read into the record the Planning & Zoning Commission’s letter dated October 9, 2009 to the Waterbury Town Clerk, the Waterbury City Planner, and Waterbury’s Bureau of Water which in accordance with Section 8-7d(f) of the Connecticut General Statutes advised them of the public hearing for the proposed banquet facility at 157 Waterbury Road. David Carson, Managing Principal of OCC Group, Inc., 2091 Highland Avenue, Cheshire, CT appeared on behalf of the applicant. Mr. Carson requested that his presentation from the last meeting be made part of the record for this public hearing stating that he will hit all the essential parts of the last presentation and the commission agreed. Chairman Pomeroy asked Mr. Carson for the proof of mailing to the abutting property owners. Mr. Carson did not have them with him and stated he would speak to the applicant’s attorney and provide them at the next meeting. Chairman Pomeroy stated that this hearing would need to be continued and the presentation may need to be redone so as to give everyone the opportunity to hear the presentation and speak if they choose to do so. Mr. Carson stated that would be fine. Mr. Carson stated that the proposed banquet facility will be located on an approximately 13-acre parcel at the corner of Murphy Road and Rt. 69 just south of the Waterbury city limits. Mr. Carson stated that the site is presently a wooded hillside rising 160-feet in elevation from the intersection of Murphy Road and Rt. 69 to the highest point at the southeast corner of the property. Mr. Carson stated that the site is surrounded by wooded water company land owned by the City of Waterbury. Mr. Carson stated that the site plan has been reviewed by the Town of Prospect’s consulting engineers, Land-Tech Consultant, Inc., and that he just received Land-Tech’s report late this afternoon and that the applicants will be addressing their concerns directly. Mr. Carson stated that he met and reviewed the site plan with Gene McCarthy, the Assistant Public Works Director, who had a few drainage comments and Mr. Carson stated Mr. McCarthy’s comments will also be addressed with a revised plan. Ray Sullivan of the Sullivan Architectural Group, 27 Anne Street, Norwalk, CT appeared and stated that the Geloso family wanted to create a wedding facility with a timeless look that would be able to host two wedding events at the same time. Mr. Sullivan stated that each of the two separate weddings would have their guests enter through a 35’ x 65’ foyer which leads down a hall to a larger room with tall windows, a double story space, and will have a set of stairs to go up to a private bridal suite with a small terrace. Mr. Sullivan stated that the support facilities such as the coat room and restrooms are on the right side and the left side of the hallway will be kept open for views. Mr. Sullivan stated that the building is placed on an odd angle to give the terraces the best views over the back of the property. Mr. Sullivan stated that the kitchen area will be located in the back of the facility and will have central cooking and dish washing areas that will serve both functions but each area will have individual storage, prep areas and wait staff stations. Mr. Sullivan stated that the footprint of the facility is approximately 30,000 sq. ft. Mr. Sullivan stated that the trash and deliveries will be handled through a lower level loading area which is 16’ below the main level. Mr. Sullivan showed a sketch of the terraced area off the larger of the two banquet halls which includes a fountain, natural features and a walk- thru area which leads to a waterfall area near a gazebo. Mr. Sullivan stated that the plan right now calls for the front of the building to have a stone material and the sides will have a stone base but the applicants are in the process of pricing a stucco material but either way the building will have a classic look. Mr. Sullivan outlined the lighting schemes for the facility and stated that the parking lot and access drive will be illuminated with foot candles and down facing lighting fixture poles. Mr. Sullivan presented the commission with a picture of the proposed down facing lighting fixture pole and stated that there will be no spill over effect onto the adjacent properties. Mr. Sullivan reviewed a landscaping scheme with the commission and stated that the boulevard and most of the parking lot will be lined with deciduous trees and smaller flowering trees will be in the smaller landscaped pockets. Mr. Sullivan stated that there will be evergreens to buffer some areas and while they may lose some trees during grading, they will go back and re-plant the hillside. Mr. Sullivan stated that this is a large undertaking and could be phased if necessary. Mr. Sullivan stated that the plan right now is to start construction in the Spring of 2010 and have the facility up and running by 2011. D. Santoro stated concern about outdoor music on the terraces. The applicant stated that the only music that will be played outside will be soft terrace music. G. Ploski stated concern about the number of parking spaces provided on the plan and asked the applicants how they calculated the number of spaces. Mr. Sullivan stated they would check through their notes and address the parking space question at the next meeting. Jim Bubaris of Bubaris Traffic Associates in Cheshire provided the commission with a truncated version of the full traffic study which the commission was provided at the last meeting and reviewed the submitted material with the commission. Mr. Bubaris stated that the maximum load for the proposed facility is 580 guests and that is the number that was used to complete this traffic analysis. Mr. Bubaris stated that to arrive at the number of parking spaces required, he followed “industry standard” by assuming a worst case scenario of 580 guests at 2.5 people per car which calculates to 232 parking spaces and then added an additional 38 employee parking spaces for a total of 270 parking spaces. Mr. Bubaris stated that this traffic study was conducted to include the traffic from the yet to be constructed, but approved, Sunrise Farms complex on the opposite side of Rt. 69 in Waterbury. Mr. Bubaris summarized the “Levels of Service” sections of the study and stated that the Levels of Service after this proposed banquet facility and the Sunrise Farms complex will still all remain at Levels A, B, or C which are all good Levels of Service and stated that Level C is categorized as a 15-25 second delay. Mr. Bubaris stated that the applicants will need to create a bypass area on northbound Rt. 69 turning left onto Murphy Rd. in order to achieve pavement width of 40’ from Greenwood Drive up to Bateswood Road. Mr. Bubaris stated that this will give a 20’ travel lane on each side of Rt. 69 which is what the State Traffic Commission requires in order to create a bypass area and leave enough room for someone who is traveling straight to get by. Mr. Bubaris stated that the only area that will see a significant increase in traffic will be at the Rt. 69 intersection with Murphy Road. Mr. Bubaris summarized the motor vehicle accident data for the intersections in the surrounding area provided to him from the Connecticut Department of Transportation for the prior 3 ¾ years. Mr. Bubaris stated that the site line when turning left is 35-40 mph but looking to the right only meets the current speed limit of 25mph and believes that the State Traffic Commission upon review may ask for an increase of the right site line. Mr. Bubaris stated that Gene McCarthy would like for Murphy Road to be widened from the current 22’ to 30’ and in doing that the applicant will lower the grade and achieve a better site line. D. Pomeroy asked that when driving down Murphy Road to Rt. 69 what the site line is when looking left. Mr. Bubaris stated that the site line is currently 450’. D. Santoro stated that heading south up Rt. 69 from Waterbury the road is a double lane and then narrows down to one lane about 250’ to 300’ from the Prospect town line and asked if that narrowed area coming into Prospect will be widened out to 40’ all the way to Murphy Road. Mr. Bubaris stated that the current plan does not call for that but the applicant may be instructed to do so by one of the Department of Transportation reviewing agencies who will review the site lines. Chairman Pomeroy asked the public for comments. With none, Chairman Pomeroy asked if the applicants received a copy of the WPCA’s letter regarding notification of a sewer moratorium until July 2010. Mr. Carson stated that the proposed facility will be served by both municipal sewer and municipal water. Mr. Carson further stated that the proposed water connection will be done by extending the Connecticut Water Company’s current water main line which comes down the westerly side of Rt. 69 then crosses over at Greenwood Drive to serve the Pond Place Medical Facility. Mr. Carson stated that the proposed plan calls for three fire hydrants. Mr. Carson stated that the applicants are aware of Prospect’s current sewer moratorium and stated that preliminary plan calls for a modified intermunicipal agreement between the Town of Prospect and the City of Waterbury for connection via extension of Waterbury’s sewer main which presently ends at Bateswood Drive. The proposed extension will run up to Prospect’s town line in the State’s right of way and then across the Caruso property (175 Waterbury Road) via an easement to Murphy Road. Mr. Carson stated that the applicants have a letter from Mr. Caruso indicating his willingness to grant easements to the Town of Prospect for the storm drainage and sanitary sewers. He further stated that these plans have been preliminarily reviewed by the Prospect’s Water Pollution Control Authority and have also been submitted to Waterbury’s Water Pollution Control Authority who has acknowledged that their sewer system has capacity to accept this connection. Mr. Carson stated that the applicant hopes to have all of the details of design in place so that when the moratorium is lifted a sanitary sewer permit can be issued. Mr. Carson further stated that the proposed sewer connection would be done in 2011 at the same time as the roadway improvements. Chairman Pomeroy asked if the Fire Marshal had reviewed this plan yet. Mr. Carson replied that Land Use Inspector Bill Donovan informed the Fire Marshal about the project but did not know if the Fire Marshal had reviewed the plan yet but stated he would look into the issue. With no further comments, the Chairman continued the public hearing until November 4, 2009 at 7:20 p.m.
Old Business:
a. Commission review of Zoning Regulations Section 4.11 Earth Excavation, Deposition and
Regrading Activities. No action taken.
b. Commission review of Zoning Regulations Section 5.4 Home Occupation - Special Permit Requirements. No action taken.
Land Use Inspector’s Report: None
Public Participation: None
Adjournment:
Motion by A. Havican, seconded by A. Delelle to adjourn at 8:35 p.m. Unanimous.
Don Pomeroy, Chairman