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Avon plan commission approves Walmart Market site plan with new traffic‑study condition
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Summary
The Avon Advisory Plan Commission approved DPR 2518, allowing a roughly 50,000 sq ft Walmart Market on Avon Avenue, but added a condition requiring a revised traffic study and final DPW approval of a proposed roundabout and related roadway changes after residents and the fire chief raised safety and construction concerns.
The Avon Advisory Plan Commission approved a development plan for DPR 2518, a proposed roughly 50,000‑square‑foot Walmart Market with a drive‑through pharmacy and surface parking at the northeast corner of Avon Avenue and County Road 150 (Oriole Way), but added a new condition requiring a revised traffic study that evaluates the proposed roundabout at Avon Avenue and Governors Row and is satisfactory to the town’s Department of Public Works.
Commissioners heard a detailed staff presentation and petitioner rebuttal before a lengthy public comment period in which the fire chief and several Turner Trace residents urged more analysis of traffic, school‑period queuing, drainage and construction impacts on emergency access. Paul (planning staff) summarized the proposed project, recalled three earlier waiver requests (one denied, one withdrawn, one approved) and said staff recommended approval subject to six conditions addressing access, intersection improvements, landscape/photometric compliance and a required revised site plan for fencing.
“The petitioner has agreed to the conditions,” the petitioner’s representative told the commission, noting the developer had removed the previously proposed Avon Avenue access and would comply with the staff‑requested roundabout and other improvements. Eric Trippi, the petitioner’s traffic engineer, said the study captured school peak periods and that comparative counts showed only a modest additional peak volume in the time windows analyzed.
Fire Chief Danny Brock told the commission his primary worry was construction‑period disruption of the station’s southbound response route and the potential for delayed responses if staging temporarily blocked primary egress. “The biggest thing we were concerned about is the construction,” the chief said, asking for coordination on staging and flagging concerns about encroachment on detention and landscaping areas tied to the station’s approved construction.
Residents from Turner Trace described observed queuing during high‑school dismissal and asked the commission to require a supplemental study showing how the conceptual roundabout would perform during school peaks and whether drivers would divert through neighborhoods. Raul Ralston showed a short video he said demonstrated congestion that backed up to the high school during student release.
Town Public Works Director Steve Moore said the roundabout shown in the packet was a conceptual template; final geometry and construction details would be designed and approved by DPW. He described standard measures to preserve emergency access (truck aprons and mountable splitter islands) and said DPW’s simulations using submitted counts indicated the roundabout would improve the specific failing turn movement identified in the initial study.
Commission discussion focused on whether the conceptual roundabout had been sufficiently analyzed for the school‑period peaks and whether the petitioner could be required to improve intersections that are already operating poorly. After debate the commission added a seventh condition: that, prior to issuance of a building permit, a revised traffic study analyzing the impacts of the proposed roundabout at Avon Avenue and Governors Row be submitted for approval by the planning administrator and the director of the Department of Public Works, with results satisfactory to DPW.
The commission then voted to approve DPR 2518 subject to the staff conditions and the additional revised‑traffic‑study requirement. The chair announced, “Motion carries. DPR 2518 passes.” The meeting record shows one commissioner absent during roll call.
The approval requires the petitioner to finalize engineering and construction‑stage plans with DPW and to resolve any right‑of‑way or property‑acquisition matters before issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The commission emphasized that final roundabout design, drainage mitigation and construction staging remain subject to DPW review and any necessary coordination with the fire department.
Next steps: the developer must submit revised engineering plans and the updated traffic analysis for DPW approval before the town issues building permits or a certificate of occupancy tied to the project.
