Will The Costco Master Plan Shrink?

There wasn’t any vote on Costco Thursday night, but it appears that three of the five Planning and Zoning (P&Z) commissioners may eventually approve the 44-acre Master Plan. The other two commissioners expressed serious concerns about traffic and economic impact.

However, there was general consensus that the amount of impervious surface has to be reduced, which could decrease the number of buildings and the size of the parking lots.

The commissioners discussed, debated and disagreed about whether Costco and seven other commercial buildings meet the requirements for a Planned Development District (PDD). After 90 minutes, they agreed to continue the deliberations at the June 4 meeting. “So far it’s been very good and productive,” P&Z chair Ellsworth McGuigan said in regard to the discussion. “I personally have a lot of things I want to review.”

About 40 people attended the meeting, many of whom were vocal members of the opposition during the public hearings. Their organization, Branford Citizens for Responsible Development, has been granted official intervener status in the issue. Click here to read that story.

At one point, Town Attorney Bill Aniskovich asked if the staff should prepare a resolution so a vote could be taken at the next meeting. But the commissioners said they weren’t ready for that yet and would most likely not vote until the June 18 meeting.

If the PDD and the Master Plan are approved, then the developers must submit detailed site plans to both the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) and the P&Z. Costco would be the first phase of the project.

The Master Plan calls for constructing a 158,070 square-foot Costco on about 22 acres owned by Wayne Cooke and the Cooke family. During subsequent phases of construction, seven commercial buildings totaling about 86,775 square feet would be built on the western half of the PDD on property that is primarily owned by Charles E. Weber Jr. and Al Secondino.

Environmental Concerns

“I’m generally inclined to be in favor of something like this,” commissioner Charles Andres said in regard to the project. But he also gave a list of items he wanted to discuss.

Andres said local environmentalist Bill Horne raised some important concerns about the impact on the environment. “I’m concerned about it too,” Andres said. “I trust our Inland Wetlands” commission to take those matters into account.”

Andres said the developer committed on record to submitting the entire Master Plan to the IWC. “This may be a fully different project coming out of wetlands (commission),” he said.

Andres said the P&Z can request that the amount of impervious surface be reduced to lessen the impact on the environment. The new zoning regulations prohibit more than 60 percent impervious surface ratio in any non-residential area, but the developers are asking for 65 percent.

McGuigan said the commission should make the 60 percent limit a condition for approval. “There’s no reason they couldn’t get it down to 60 percent,” he said in regard to the developers.

Town engineer Janice Plaziak agreed, and said the biggest problem with reducing impervious surface might be on the Costco parcel because of the size of the store and the number of parking spaces.

Lust: Too Much Traffic, Too Few Benefits

Commissioner John Lust was the main voice of opposition Thursday, saying the traffic plan was flawed and the project does not comply with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

“I find it hard to say it benefits the town,” Lust said, adding that he believes there would be fewer tax benefits than predicted. He said the plan was “certainly out of character with the town” and that the scale of the project was too large.

Commissioner Marci Palluzzi said PDDs are supposed to be large, but added that “Maybe it needs to shrink.” Palluzzi said she has faith in the IWC to determine if there are impacts to the wetlands.

Commissioner Joe Chadwick said he doesn’t think the developers have given the full economic picture. “My problem is they have not quantified the benefits.” He said there was only superficial information about the tax revenue for the town. “It was not a true net analysis,” he said.

“Everybody likes Costco,” Chadwick said, but he said it’s necessary to look at the entire Master Plan.

“Think about the benefits of having a regional store,” Palluzzi said. She said a regional store like Costco will bring people to Branford and they will shop at other stores in town and dine at local restaurants.

The commissioners spent considerable time discussing traffic issues, with Lust saying he questioned the volume projections and the lack of summer traffic counts. “I don’t have any confidence in that traffic report,” he said.

Andres said the consultant hired by the P&Z to review the developer’s traffic study didn’t seem to find any major problems. 

“I hear you,” Andres said to Lust in regard to some of his concerns. But he said the proposed project is right next to an existing PDD where Stop & Shop is located.

“I’m not opposed to PDDs … it’s just the scale of this thing.” Lust said.

“Scale is an issue. I agree with that,” Andres said.

McGuigan: Costco a Good Neighbor

“I think they take an interest in the town they’re in,” McGuigan said in regard to Costco. He said people like shopping at Costco stores but seem to be concerned about the intensity of the whole project.

“You can’t just keep it limited the way it is…it’s going to be developed.” McGuigan said in regard to the 44 acres. He said the economic impact “is well-worth it.”

McGuigan said the commission should limit the types of uses that would be permitted if the zoning is changed from industrial to commercial, which would permit retail and restaurants. Andres said he would add banks and research facilities to the list, but not all the uses currently permitted in an industrial zone.

Andres said the fact that five property owners agreed to form a PDD was remarkable, and that the internal roads would limit the number of curb cuts.

“There’s a lot to be gained from sticking with the PDD” rather than piecemeal development, McGuigan said. He also said that Exit 56 is the proper place for the project.

Andres said there are consistencies with the POCD. He said there was language in an early draft of the POCD that prohibited retail at Exit 56, but people complained and the sentence was removed. He said if that language had remained in the POCD, there would be no question now. “We decided to change it and that change left an opening,” Andres said.

Andres said the commissioners should take another look at the traffic peer review and also look at the video tapes of the public hearing sessions.

“John’s raised some good points about traffic and I want to review that,” Andres said.

Who Votes?

The P&Z Commission (pictured) discussed several other projects Thursday night when the full board and all the alternates were present. The commission has five full members—McGuigan, Andres, Lust, Palluzzi, and Joe Vaiuso. There are also three alternates—Chadwick, Fred Russo and newly appointed member Paul Higgins. Since Vaiuso was absent from two of the four public hearings for Costco, Chadwick is serving as a voting member for the Costco Master Plan. Russo recused himself from the Costco hearing.

A move to obtain a supermajority vote, which would have required four out of five instead of three out of five P & Z members to adopt the Master Plan, would have become reality had one of the abutters not pulled its protest. TravelCenters of America had protested but later decided to pull its protest, Costco’s attorney informed the P&Z at a prior hearing.

That left only one other formal protestor, Jonathan Smith, the owner of 560 East Main St. and 568 E. Main St., a parcel of 4.5 acres of property where the Lobster Pot restaurant and the Citizens Bank lie. And while Smith may still oppose the Costco project, his acreage is too small to trigger a supermajority vote statute.

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