Zoners reject proposal for travel center, electric vehicle showroom

ORANGE — Town zoning officials have nixed a proposal for a community travel center and electric vehicle showroom on Marsh Hill Road, fearing the project would create hazardous traffic conditions on a bustling roadway.

The application, submitted last year on behalf of Noble Energy Real Estate Holdings LLC, proposed to build an 8,384square foot community travel center and 23,000square foot electric vehicle showroom at 88 Marsh Hill Road. The plans included gas pumps and electric vehicle chargers, a convenience store, ice cream stand and a drivethru coffee and sandwich shop.

The Town Plan and Zoning Commission unanimously denied the application, saying the proposed activity was “too intense” given the already busy traffic conditions that exist around the site, which is located near an Interstate-95 exit ramp.

According to a peer review traffic study from WSP USA, the proposal would have increased traffic volume on that stretch of Marsh Hill Road by 5,000 vehicles per day, on top of the roughly 16,000 to 20,000 vehicles that currently travel on that roadway daily. One WSP traffic engineer told the town’s Traffic Authority during a meeting last month that he was worried queuing vehicles would lead to an increase in accidents, minutes show. The traffic study results and the engineer’s testimony prompted the Traffic Authority to unanimously deny the application.

TPZC member Paul Kaplan said the project’s expected traffic volume amounted to a 25 percent increase over the current conditions, which he called “an awful lot with the (Traffic Authority) not really being on board.”

Commissioner Judy Smith added, “I don’t think any of us want to create an unsafe situation up there.”

Zoning officials agreed that the travel center was an appropriate use for that location, but its projected traffic volume would make it dangerous for motorists. “I still think that type of use is appropriate, but maybe scale down a little bit based upon the volume,” Smith said.

To help ease initial traffic concerns, the applicant proposed to put a traffic signal at one of the site’s driveways on Marsh Hill Road. If the TPZC had approved the travel center application, project officials said they would have asked the state Department of Transportation to synchronize its one light near the Interstate 95 ramp with other town-maintained signals along Marsh Hill Road, with the goal of improving traffic flow.

TPZC members considered conditionally approving the Marsh Hill Road application, similar to how they recently greenlit a proposal for a recreational cannabis store on Boston Post Road. The commission’s approval for the travel center would have been contingent upon the DOT agreeing to coordinate its traffic light, but they ultimately decided to reject the proposal outright.