How residents in two small Conn. towns are pushing back on new warehouse developments
It wasn’t a touchdown, a political speech or even a triumphant performance of a school play.
When the citizens of Watertown jumped to their feet and whooped and clapped last week, it was to cheer a vote at the town’s planning and zoning commission meeting — a typically bone-dry proceeding that usually produces more snores than shouts.
The Watertown planners voted to reject a proposal to build both warehouses and new apartments on a 196-acre property on Bunker Hill Road. The vote came after two hours of impassioned testimony by residents, many citing traffic concerns about the warehouses and overcrowding and crime concerns about the housing.
The development threatened Watertown’s way of life and appeal, said Rosemary Longo, representing a coalition of residents against the proposal.
“We are uniquely positioned as a Litchfield County town with a lot to offer. We’re not Waterbury, we’re not Bethlehem, but we are in Litchfield County and that’s what draws people in to live and work here,” Longo said, as part of a slide presentation. “This will definitely have impact to our brand.”
Middlebury controversy rages
Wednesday’s clash was the second this week alone between developers and angry residents of a small Connecticut town.
In Middlebury, a planning meeting Thursday night saw hostile interactions between town officials and residents bitterly opposed to a planned distribution center at the former Timex headquarters at 555 Christian Road.
“Shut him up,” one commissioner said in response to a resident who went over time during public comment.
Developer Drubner Equities and Atlantic Management bought the 93acre Timex site for $7.5 million earlier this year with the intention of turning the property into a complex of warehouses and loading docks for a yet-to-be-chosen tenant. The watchmaker has moved its workers to other locations.
As soon as the project was announced, Middlebury residents began organizing and bright-red “No Distribution Facilities” lawn signs sprouted up across town. An outspoken opponent of the plan also won a spot on the town’s Board of Selectman in November’s elections.
“You ought to withdraw this application,” resident Joe Puzzo said at Thursday’s meeting, addressing the developer. “It’s dividing the town and is not good for this town … this application should be withdrawn and then bring people together who would like to find the right kind of development that we need in the town.”
The project must also overcome a controversial provision inserted into this year’s state budget by Middlebury’s lone state representative that appears tailor-made to stymie the warehouse plan.
State Rep. William Pizzuto, who lives near the Timex site, admitted to the CT Mirror in June that the provision was added with the intention of thwarting Drubner’s development.
But residents seeking a larger commercial base for the town and the resulting lower taxes appear to dominate the planning and zoning commission, which will vote on the plan in coming weeks after three contentious public hearings.
Town officials hired an appraiser who presented a report on Thursday attempting to contradict claims that the new warehouse would impact property values.
“It’s my opinion that this proposed development will not have a negative impact on the market value of the surrounding properties or would not impact negatively the character of the neighborhood,” said David Herbst, an appraiser from Fairfield’s Kerin & Fazio.
Small towns attract warehouse builders
Developers — particularly those who build warehouses and distribution centers — have been targeting smaller Connecticut towns for projects in recent years, seeking blank slates in strategic locations for building custom-designed structures, said Keith R. Ainsworth, a New Havenbased land-use attorney who represents Middlebury residents in their fight against Drubner.
Smaller towns tend to have part-time officials and low-profile politics that allow for quick approvals of major warehouse projects, Ainsworth said.
“These are towns that are really in a tough position to resist the kind of tax base that they’re promising, and the sophistication of an applicant that has a real technical team,” Ainsworth said. “So it becomes a real challenge for a small community to manage something that might have such an impact on their community character.”
But those small Connecticut towns also tend to have high-powered professionals living there who have been increasingly mobilizing and hiring help to fight industrial projects.
At the Watertown meeting on Wednesday, Rosemary Longo cited her experience in financial services at JPMorgan Chase while presenting a polished Powerpoint on the downsides of the Bunker Hill Road proposal.
At Thursday’s Middlebury meeting, a resident who works as an investment banker presented a detailed report on the “macroeconomic backdrop” of the proposed distribution center, citing national statistics on a decline in warehouse demand.
“There would be nothing but risk and Middlebury actively accommodating a project that is designed for the macroeconomic environment of two years ago,” the resident said.
Pushback grows across CT
Residents in Bloomfield and Windsor Locks have spoken out against warehouse development in recent months, even as massive new projects like new Wayfair and Lowe’s warehouses rise in cities like East Hartford.
Organized opponents can also get traction in larger cities: Milford residents opposed to a proposed warehouse at the former Subway headquarters may stall the project after submitting a petition last month that may trigger higher approval requirements.
Middlebury residents against the Drubner project have formed an active group, Middlebury Small Town Alliance, and hired Ainsworth as their attorney in anticipation of a lawsuit in superior court if the project is approved as expected. The proposal has generated strong feelings a town mainly known for its good schools and low crime.
High-end housing developments have sprung up around the Timex property over the decades with the expectation that uses would be restricted to a quiet office park, Ainsworth said.
“Look, we all moved in here because you designed a quiet facility next to neighborhoods which are compatible. And now you want to put in something that’s industrial, that’s noisy, and is a high traffic generator at all hours,” Ainsworth said, speaking for residents. “The neighbors felt very much like that was a breach of the social contract.”