37-Acre Costco Plaza Plan Unveiled

A master plan for a significant retail development is in the works for Branford, including the new Costco proposed by First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove as part of his election campaign.

The new development would include several restaurants, a large drug store, a Costco gas station and possible relocation of roads leading from the highway interchange at Exit 56, according to an early site plan submitted to Planning & Zoning (P&Z) Commission.

The proposed Costco development, which has been discussed for months behind the scenes, came to light at the Nov. 21 P&Z meeting. A combined acre aerial site plan was submitted to the commission and became part of the public record. It is marked “Exhibit #2.” (See photo above.)

The overall 37-acre site stretches from East Main Street to East Industrial Road and is not far from the Guilford line. By size and development it would transform the landscape on East Main Street near the current Stop & Shop. For example, the corner across from the Chowder Pot restaurant and adjacent to the Stop & Shop is labeled as a proposed new home for a 14,800 square-foot drug store.

Milford Attorney Leo Carroll told the P&Z that a master plan for retail development is being prepared and will be formally presented in the next six to eight months. Carroll, an expert in land use, told the P&Z that he represents an entity called 595 Corporate Circle, which owns 16 acres of the property at 569 East Main St.

ENTER CORPORATE CIRCLE

The 16-acre Corporate Circle property stretches from the area near Stop & Shop to East Industrial Road, where it would provide access to the highway interchange at I-95. There would also be access to the shopping development via East Main Street, a two-lane state road.

The Corporate Circle company is a Connecticut general partnership. Charles E. Weber, Jr., and Alfred J. Secondino, Jr. are listed as the general partners.

Weber, an old friend of the Cosgrove family, attended the P&Z meeting with his wife. (He is pictured next to Carroll.) The Webers donated $2,000 to Jamie Cosgrove’s campaign for first selectman.

For the first time, the 16-acre draft site plan shows an adjacent 21 acres at 573 East Main, the land on which Costco would be placed if permits are granted.  The 21 acres belong to Wayne Cooke and his relatives.

According to this early site plan, one of the entrances to the Costco development would be located directly across from what was once the Hilltop Orchards pie store, a Cooke family enterprise. Another curb cut or driveway into the mall is slated across from Citizen’s Bank on East Main St. Since East Main Street is a state road, the state would be involved in potential traffic issues in connection with the 37-acre retail development. 

A combined aerial site plan (top photo)  shows Costco located across from the Cooke family property on East Main Sreet. A large parking lot for Costco customers would be erected on or near Cooke’s current corn field on East Main Street and across from his family’s former Hilltop Orchards store. Near the parking lot are wetlands, according to the site map.

No formal application has been presented to the Inland Wetlands Commission, the first stop for any developer seeking a permit to build in Branford. Cooke tried in the past to sell his property for development. In 2008 he sought to put a mall on a different section of his property; the project was turned down. (Click here to read about that.) This area is currently zoned as light industrial.

In 2008, a Rhode Island developer sought a special zoning district. (Click here to read about that.)  In 2011, another effort was made, this time at the former Bittersweet Farm property, not far from current property proposals, where plans called for a 135-acre complex that would have included a medical center, offices, single-family homes, apartments, small retail shops, and a wholesale retail club—widely acknowledged to be Costco. The Inland Wetlands Commission never formally voted but let it be known it was not happy with the plan. Developers did not pursue it.

Carroll, who also serves as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Milford Bank, did not submit the aerial draft site plans of the overall Costco site. The first peek of the plan came at the P&Z meeting because the commission was holding a public hearing on a request by the TA Travel Center at 3 East Industrial Rd. to add a new 4,700-foot garage to its existing truck stop building.

The TA Travel Center is across East Industrial Road from the 16-acre property owned by 595 Corporate Circle. Carroll said he was concerned how the TA proposal might affect his client’s property in regard to the drainage system and traffic in the area. Carroll also requested that TA submit a traffic study before P&Z grants any approvals; he submitted a three-page letter to P & Z Board Chair Ellsworth McGuigan and the board outlining his concerns. (Pictured is Exhibit #3 showing the area in question.) 

Engineer William W. Schneider presented the TA proposal to P&Z, requesting a special exception to add a 4,700-foot addition to an existing building to be used as an additional truck maintenance bay. Schneider said the bay would not increase truck traffic in the area, but would shorten the lines of trucks waiting for service. 

“It’s not a major impact to the site,” Schneider told the commission. Schneider also said that his discussions with the 595 Corporate Circle engineers did not concern proposed traffic and drainage studies, but rather their interest in alignment of future access points across East Industrial Road.

TRUCK STOP ENGINEER REVEALS COSTCO PLAN

Then, in a surprise move, Schneider produced a draft schematic of the overall 37-acre business development to show the P&Z how a large development might affect traffic in this area compared to an addition of a second garage of 4,700 square feet. He said he received the proposed plan from the property owners’ engineer.

The overall aerial site map was prepared by BL companies, the architecture and engineering firm Carroll’s clients have hired and the one used in the Bittersweet effort. The site plan sent to Schneider is dated Nov. 15, 2013, ten days after Cosgrove won election for first selectman. Getting a Costco to the Exit 56 properties was one of Cosgrove’s main election priorities.

In his letter Carroll said that the relocation of the westbound exit from I-95 at Exit 56 “requires that this relocated exit be studied before any application in this area is approved.”  He also wrote that the lack of a traffic study “makes it impossible to understand the impacts of doubling the capacity of the garage facility on the property.” Carroll wanted the TA to pay for the traffic study.

A curb cut proposed near the truck stop on East Industrial Road has also caused concern for Weber and Secondino because they want the driveway to line up with their plans.

The P&Z did not agree that an additional TA Travel Center garage presented these problems. 

Following the public hearing, the commission voted unanimously to approve the TA Travel Center proposal. McGuigan said one additional repair bay would not affect traffic, since trucks are already there waiting for service. Carroll could appeal the P& Z decision by filing suit in New Haven Superior Court. 

Commission member Joe Vaiuso said the master plans for the sites would have more impact on the area than the TA request.

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