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Zoning commission approves master-plan change to allow fire station in The Reserve, adds Old Ridgebury Road access language
Summary
The Danbury Zoning Commission voted 9–0 to amend The Reserve master plan to permit a 10,000 sq. ft. neighborhood community facility (a fire station) on an 18.2-acre Phase 10 parcel, and instructed staff to insert Toll Brothers’ requested sentence limiting construction ingress and egress to Old Ridgebury Road.
The Danbury Zoning Commission unanimously approved a master-plan amendment on May 12 to reclassify Phase 10 of The Reserve and permit construction of a neighborhood community facility — described by staff as a roughly 10,000-square-foot fire station — on an 18.2-acre parcel.
Planning Director Waleed Al Bakri told the commission the city is the applicant with owner authorization and that Phase 10 contains wetlands and steep slopes limiting the buildable footprint. “We are 85 to 90% sure it will be built as a fire station,” Al Bakri said, describing the change as consistent with the city’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) and intended to address an emergency-response deficit on Danbury’s West Side.
Councilman Paul Rotello, who spoke in favor of the petition, said bond money has been committed to add a West Side fire station and urged placement inside The Reserve so response times would improve for the largest West Side development. Rotello also asked the commission to preserve emergency-response flexibility, saying he would “like at least an emergency entrance on a reserve road” so apparatus can respond if primary routes are blocked.
Developer Toll Brothers and its division president Jack Laneman told the commission the company supports the amendment but asked that construction access for the phase front on Old Ridgebury Road. Laneman clarified, “Toll Brothers has no issue with fire trucks traversing over the roads of the reserve if they are responding to an emergency,” and said the company’s request was aimed at limiting construction vehicle traffic, not routine emergency access.
After debate on the precise wording, the commission adopted a motion to approve the amendment, adding an instruction for the planning director to insert the exact sentence submitted by Toll Brothers that “all development in the above phase shall have ingress and egress exclusively from Old Ridgebury Road.” The motion was made by Commissioner Botello, seconded by Commissioner James, and passed by voice vote recorded 9–0.
Al Bakri said the approval changes the land-use classification from office/banking/business services and nonprofits to neighborhood retail services and community facilities for Phase 10 and that any future construction will require a separate site-plan application and additional reviews. He cautioned that the current approval updates the master plan only; detailed construction plans and site engineering will come later.
The commission’s materials show The Reserve master plan covers roughly 546 acres; staff emphasized Phase 10’s constrained buildable area due to wetlands and topography. The record includes letters from Fairway Asset Management and Toll Brothers expressing support; both letters were entered into the record and read aloud at the hearing.
The commission closed the public hearing that evening and moved directly into old business before voting to approve the amendment. The director will produce the revised text with the Toll Brothers clause incorporated and circulate it to commissioners.
