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Danbury Planning Commission continues hearing on 55 Newtown Road project after applicant presentations, staff reports pending
Summary
The commission heard a detailed presentation from the applicant team for a proposed KeyBank branch and a drive‑through fast‑food restaurant at 55 Newtown Road and continued the public hearing to its Feb. 5 meeting while awaiting outstanding city staff reports on traffic, health and construction services.
The Danbury Planning Commission continued a public hearing on Jan. 15 on an application from 55 Newtown Road LLC to redevelop a 2.2‑acre site at 55 Newtown Road with two buildings: a KeyBank branch offering drive‑up services and a proposed fast‑food restaurant with a drive‑through.
Attorney Tom Beecher, representing the applicant, said the plan calls for pedestrian interconnectivity between the new site and the adjacent Plumtrees Plaza via sidewalks and crosswalks and that the applicant will record cross‑easements tying the properties together. "This site was known and was accommodated in the state design," Beecher said, noting the state’s recent Newtown Road improvements and that city and state reviews so far had raised no major circulation or fire‑access concerns.
Benjamin Dodo, the project engineer, gave a site‑design history and described revisions intended to improve pedestrian access, vehicle circulation and stormwater management. Dodo said the bank building will be 2,755 square feet and the restaurant’s queuing will include two lanes—one about 116 feet and a second about 100 feet prior to the order board—exceeding minimum regulation lengths to provide queuing capacity.
Charlie Baker of VHB summarized the traffic impact study prepared for the project and described the analysis as conservative because it used an earlier, larger bank footprint. "The project's expected to generate 171 new vehicle trips per hour during the morning peak, 162 in the evening and 247 in the Saturday peak," Baker said, and concluded that the planned improvements on Newtown Road give the study area surplus capacity overall, although one internal plaza driveway could degrade to a higher level of delay during evening peak periods.
Architect Ben Gingrich presented elevations for the KeyBank branch, describing pedestrian‑oriented materials and a portal entry that faces the new drive intersection.
No members of the public indicated opposition at the hearing. City staff reported that reviews from health, construction services and traffic were still outstanding; the commission agreed to continue the public hearing to its Feb. 5, 2025 meeting so those reports can be completed.
The commission’s continuation preserves the record while staff completes their discipline‑specific reviews; the developer said the next steps would include recording required easements and coordinating final technical revisions with city departments.
