Zoners OK Dollar General in Prospect

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A site plan drawing for a proposed Dollar General store at 14 Union City Road in Prospect. –CONTRIBUTED

PROSPECT — The Planning and Zoning Commission last week unanimously approved a special permit for a Dollar General store on Union City Road.

After reading a resolution of approval for the special permit, commission Chairman E. Gil Graveline Jr. noted the applicant did everything the commission was looking for and asked.

Garrett Homes, LLC applied for the permit to build a one-story 9,100-square-foot Dollar General store at 14 Union City Road, a roughly 1-acre parcel at the corner of Old Schoolhouse Road and Union City Road. A home and detached garage are on the property now and will have to be demolished to make way for the store.

The parking lot for the store will have nearly 40 parking spaces and driveways on Old Schoolhouse Road and Union City Road, a state road also known as Route 68. The state Department of Transportation will have to approve the driveway on Union City Road, since it’s a state road.

Matthew Bruton, a senior engineer with BL Companies working on behalf of Garrett Homes, previously told the commission it would take about four months to construct the store after all the approvals are in place.

The project met resistance from some residents during the public hearing process who argued the store would add traffic to an already congested intersection.

A traffic study done by BL Companies estimated the average daily traffic at the intersection is 13,000 cars. This is up about 21.5 percent from 2012 when the average daily traffic collected by the DOT at the time was estimated at 10,700 cars, according to the study.

Andy Chakraborty, a traffic engineer with BL Companies, previously told the commission the increase in traffic is due to drivers driving through Prospect to avoid the ongoing construction on Interstate 84 in Waterbury.

According to the traffic study, the intersection operates at an acceptable “level of service,” which is factored based on a driver’s delay at the intersection, most of the time, but operates at the worst level of service during the afternoon peak hours on weekdays.

The Dollar General is projected to generate about 521 daily trips on weekdays, including 50 trips during peak hours in the morning and afternoon, and 67 trips during peak hours on Saturdays. These trips include capturing people already driving by who pull in to pick up something quickly.

Chakraborty previously told the commission BL Companies’ position is that traffic generated by the store isn’t going to cause much more of a disruption and the traffic volume will decrease once the construction on I-84 is complete.

The resolution of approval states that in the commission’s judgement the project complied with the zoning regulations.

The property is in a business zone, which allows for single-family residential uses. The special permit was needed because the store is over 2,500 square feet. The land is also in a Gateway Overlay District Zone, which gives the commission more authority over the architecture of proposed buildings.

The plan calls for a pre-engineered metal building with a brick façade on three of its four sides and asphalt shingles on the roof. The building will have windows along the sides facing Union City Road and Old Schoolhouse Road, but the windows will have a gray film over them.

While traffic was the main issue among residents that spoke during the public hearings, others argued a Dollar General doesn’t fit in with the character of downtown Prospect.

“The commission, having reviewed the submitted architectural drawings, finds that the proposed building is architecturally appropriate and consistent with a design that will promote Prospect’s historic small town aesthetic qualities…,” the resolution of approval states.