Storage facility proposed for New Milford site

NEW MILFORD – A proposal to construct six self-storage and warehouse buildings on an 11.44-acre site on Sunny Valley Road is drawing criticism from some nearby residents.

“I don’t begrudge anybody making use of their own land,” said Matt Reynolds, who lives across the street from the proposed site. “I was concerned about what impact it will have on me.”

HREA-Jane LLC submitted a special permit and site plan application in February to the Zoning Commission to construct a self-storage and warehouse facility at 160 Sunny Valley Road.

The property is owned by Sunval LLC.

HREA-Jane could not be reached for comment.

The site is surrounded by Sunny Valley Road to the north, industrial and commercial uses to the east and land trust property to the west and south, according to SLR International Corp.’s zoning review letter on the project.

The property was used for farming until the 1970s, when gravel pit operations took over, SLR says in its letter.

SLR said the site has a paved driveway to Sunny Valley Road and is “a combination of mature woods and stockpiles of soil, with overgrown grass and brush occupying a majority of the site.”

The property is vacant and is not served by a public sewer system or a water company, according to the project’s site plan application.

The plan calls for developing six buildings, five of which will be built on the northern half of the site, according to SLR’s letter.

They would include a 30,000-square-foot multistory building with an office area and a loading area; two 10,000-squarefoot buildings; and two 8,450-square-foot singlestory, drive-up self-storage buildings.

A 68,600-square-foot building warehouse has been proposed for the southern half of the site and would include a parking lot to the north of the building and a 10-space loading bay and two drive-in bays to the south of the building.

The plan also calls for adding a new well, two septic systems, multiple stormwater management systems, driveways and parking lots.

HREA-Jane LLC has applied to Aquarian Water Co. for a water main to the site and is proposing possible water tanks on site, Chaz Evans, project manager of Bohler Engineering, said at the Zoning Commission’s June 13 meeting.

The cost of the project is estimated at $8 million, with about a year of construction.

The proposed buildings’ hours of operation have not yet been determined.

Reynolds said he learned about the plan through a sign advertising the Zoning Commission meeting.

“Obviously, living across the street, I was interested in seeing what the project was going to be, what the building is going to be,” he said.

The site is currently overgrown with several trees on the property and is “pretty much undeveloped at this point,” Reynolds said.

“I would have loved for it to stay the way that it is,” he said. “But I also understand that it’s somebody else’s property and they have rights to do it.”

Reynolds voiced his concerns about the buildings’ proposed size, lighting and proximity to the road at the meeting. He also asked about 24-hour access to the buildings, including the storage units, and whether there would be a lot of truck traffic in the area.

Chris Cosgrove, who lives at 143 Sunny Valley Road, asked about what could possibly be stored on the site, whether the site would be gated and whether it would be connected to a sewer, according to the Zoning Commission’s meeting minutes. He also voiced concerns about “trucks and backup beepers at all hours of the night,” the minutes stated.

The Zoning Commission unanimously accepted a 30-day extension for HREA-Jane to get the results of a traffic study. The public hearing on the special permit and site plan application will continue at the Zoning Commission’s June 27 meeting.