Chelsea Groton Bank seeks special permit for downtown branch at Mercantile Exchange

The Commission on the City Plan for Norwich, Connecticut convened on July 25, 2025, to address several key agenda items, including the approval of an application and a public hearing for a special permit.

The meeting commenced with a discussion regarding an application that had been previously reviewed. A motion was made to approve the application, which included conditions outlined in a planner's memo and city engineer's recommendations. The motion received a second, and after confirming there were no further discussions, the commission proceeded to a vote. The application was approved with three votes in favor and one opposed.

Following this, the commission moved on to the next item on the agenda, which involved a special permit request for Chelsea Groton Bank to operate on the first floor of the Mercantile Exchange Building. A motion was made to open the public hearing for this special permit, which was seconded and unanimously approved.

Lisa Frio from the Facilities Department at Chelsea Groton Bank presented the application, explaining that the bank had recently relocated to the Mercantile Exchange Building and was seeking formal approval as a financial institution. This request was characterized as a housekeeping matter, as the zoning officer had previously approved the bank's operation as a customer service establishment without recognizing the need for a special permit for financial institutions in the Chelsea Central District.

Frio noted that the bank's presence downtown was significant, as it had been decades since a new bank had opened in the area. The application included several waiver requests related to bond estimates, drainage calculations, color renderings, and site plans.

The meeting concluded with the commission acknowledging the importance of the discussions and the progress made on both the application and the special permit request. Further steps will be taken to finalize the approval process for the bank's operation in Norwich.