Apartment building gets the green light

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An artist’s rendering of a proposed 51-unit, roughly 50,000-square-foot apartment building planned for 628 New Haven Road in Naugatuck next to the Salem Square Shopping Center. –CONTRIBUTED

NAUGATUCK — The Zoning Commission has given the go-ahead for a proposed apartment building on New Haven Road.

The commission last week approved a special permit submitted by Jerry Nocerino, owner of the Ansonia-based All-Star Property Management, for a 51-unit, roughly 50,000-square-foot apartment building at 628 New Haven Road.

According to the plan, the building will have 27 single-bedroom apartments, 16 studio apartments and eight two-bedroom apartments. The apartments will all be market-rate apartments, attorney George Boath, who represents Nocerino, previously told the commission.

In November, the commission approved six waivers needed for the project because the property is in the New Haven Road Design District. The waivers include increasing the allowable number of stories for a building from three to four; increasing the maximum allowed height of a building from 40 feet to 44 feet; and decreasing the required number of parking spaces per dwelling from three to 1.4.

Last month, the commission also approved a special permit to excavate and remove approximately 19,000 cubic yards of earth material from the site to make room for the building.

However, the commission stopped short of approving the special permit for the building itself last month because Chairman Wayne Malicki requested Nocerino bring in new drawings showing window shutters, faux windows and other items to break up the bare sides of the building.

Nocerino told the commission last week the company took the concerns seriously and added additional windows and paneling on the building to break up the siding.

Malicki said he felt the changes made the building look better.

Work on the project is expected to begin in the spring. The excavation, which the company has to coordinate with the Naugatuck Police Department to determine the best route and time of day to truck the material from the property, is expected to take 90 to 120 days, depending on the weather.

The New Haven Road Design District previously called for any new apartment building to have commercial space on the first floor. In May 2017, the commission approved Nocerino’s request to change the regulations to read an apartment building must have commercial space on the first floor or at least 10,000 square feet of retail space on the same property. The property is also the site of the Salem Square Shopping Center, a 19,636-square-foot shopping center.

The overall size of the lot is just under 3 acres. The apartment building will be built to the north of the shopping center. The plan calls for 64 parking spaces around the building and to use eight additional spots from the parking at Salem Square.