Large-scale construction project approved

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PROSPECT — Zoning officials have approved a new 30,000-square-foot banquet facility off Route 69.

The Planning and Zoning Commission recently passed a special permit for Giuseppe Geloso, Sr. to build the facility at the corner of Murphy Road and Route 69. Geloso owns the Villa Rosa Banquet Facility at the Pontelandolfo Community Club in Waterbury.

The new facility would be built at 157 Waterbury Road, on about 13 acres south of the Waterbury city line. It would hold 580 guests plus employees, town officials said.

Giuseppe “Joe” Geloso, Jr., Geloso’s son and an owner of Villa Rosa, would say only that the Geloso family is happy to receive approval, and he thanked Prospect officials.

The next step is for the applicant to obtain approval for a sewer connection from the Water Pollution Control Authority, said William Donovan, the town’s land use inspector.

Currently, Prospect has a moratorium on sewer construction, which is scheduled to be lifted in July, he said. The applicant would have private sewers on site, and would need to secure an intermunicipal sewer agreement to be approved by both Prospect and Waterbury to tie into the Waterbury sewer system. Prospect doesn’t have its own sewage treatment facility.

This wouldn’t be the first time for a developer to tie into an existing sewer system. For example, the Toll Bros. development under construction off Scott Road has a sewer line agreement with the city of Waterbury.

Geloso, Jr. has said the new facility would be “elegant” and “state-of-the-art,” and would be designed to hold two separate weddings at the same time without interference. The building would have two wings, one room to hold 250 people, the other 400 people.

Prospect will appreciate a boost to its tax base, Mayor Bob Chatfield said. He said it also will help the job market.

Prospect has Addona’s Banquet Room, 72 Waterbury Road, and other smaller venues for weddings and banquets, but nothing of this magnitude in town.

Villa Rosa, which has been in business for 25 years, leases space from the Pontelandolfo Community Club.

In Waterbury, city officials recently sent the Pontelandolfo Community Club and Villa Rosa, a $24,500 bill for undocumented water and sewer usage over the last six years.