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Danbury zoning commission continues review of watershed zoning change for auto-repair tied to new-car dealerships
Summary
The commission kept open a proposed amendment from JM Zelle Partners that would allow auto-repair uses for new-car dealerships in watershed zones, after staff warned the petition as written would apply too broadly and asked for tighter, site-specific protections; the applicant agreed to revise the text.
The Danbury Zoning Commission on Sept. 24 continued a public hearing on a petition from JM Zelle Partners LLC that would ease prohibitions on auto repair within the city's watershed overlay so long as repairs are part of a new-car dealership.
Deputy planning director Jennifer Emminger told the commission the petition "as written applies to all lands within class 1 and class 2 watershed. It's far reaching," and staff and the health department therefore recommend adding significant restrictions before any city approval. Emminger asked the commission to require the additional safeguards—many of which the Planning Commission included in its referral—before adopting the text amendment.
The Planning Commission had given the petition a positive recommendation while attaching 15 provisions intended to protect the watershed. Those conditions include requiring professional-engineer certification, limiting the allowance to Class 2 (Lake Kenosha) areas and to new-car dealerships only, a 3-acre minimum lot size in the CA-80 zone, all repair and detailing activities to occur inside a primary building not within 100 feet of a wetland that drains to a reservoir, prohibition of on-site fuel storage and auto-body work, covered loading areas, DEEP permitting for wastewater discharges, on-site oil-grit separators discharging to municipal sanitary sewer, 125% containment for hazardous-material storage and a required spill-prevention and waste-management plan.
Attorney Neil Marcus, representing the petitioner and clients including Danbury Porsche, said the applicant has worked with staff and outside consultants to draft a revised text that would incorporate those protections. "This has been the most cooperative zoning amendment and petition that I've filed in many, many years," Marcus said, adding that the parties have agreed to refine and finalize the wording prior to the commission's next meeting.
Chair Theodore J. Haddad Jr. and commissioners agreed to keep the hearing open so staff can complete wordsmithing with the applicant. A motion to continue the public hearing carried unanimously; the commission said it expects the revised language to return for consideration at the Oct. 8 meeting (or Oct. 22 if further work is needed).
The commission made no final determination on whether the amendment would be adopted; instead, it asked staff and the applicant to submit a redrafted ordinance that incorporates the listed safeguards and ensures DEEP and DMV permitting requirements are satisfied before any repair activities would be allowed.
