With support from the town center review board and few concerns left among area residents, final plans for Atlantic Wharf appear to be in calmer waters -- and sailing toward zoning approval -- following a public hearing on Dec. 3.

However, some minor issues still need to be ironed out, which is why the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) has continued the public hearing to Monday, Jan. 7.

Mixed-use (residential and commercial) Atlantic Wharf is targeted for a town center spot on 7.5 acres of brownfield Atlantic Wire property (corner of Montowese Street and Meadow Street). Branford's Town Center Revitalization Review Board recently gave the Atlantic Wharf plan its seal of approval, after meeting with applicant Metro Star (Milford) to go over issues specific to Branford's Village District.

Metro Star developer Robert Smith Jr., appearing Dec. 3 with Metro Star Capital member and Branford resident Earl Tucker, noted the company had met with abutting property owners on Wilford Avenue over the summer. He said the group mostly discussed traffic concerns, but also addressed a property buffer issue to the group's satisfaction, as well agreeing to install filters to diminish any restaurant kitchen exhaust and allowing only "conversation-level" music throughout the site.

Smith said his 31 years of experience as a developer of successful mixed used-properties (among them, Milford's Schooner Wharf), have shown that some flexibility, within the limits of zoning, is required to allow for ideal operation and occupancy.

"As you hear from the experts, ours included (and town) staff and others...do so with the understanding that, with the integration of mixed uses, comes the need for ongoing adjustments to the property's functionality," Smith said. "Allowing us to make fluid decision regarding parking, pedestrian access, and consumer circulation, all within the boundaries of your regulations, will be critically important to the ongoing operation of the property."

On Dec. 3, just three residents brought requests and ideas for the PZC to consider as part of its decision-making process.  Also on Dec. 3, Metro Star team members provided a detailed overview of the site plan, including changes to the master plan on some buildings as well as changes to include buffer zones, appropriate landscaping, less invasive lighting, better parking and better traffic flow. The changes were made to address contingencies the PZC placed on its approval of Atlantic Wharf's master conceptual plan last February.

The site plan still calls for ten buildings in the complex. The buildings will incorporate 205 residential units (studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom) and commercial spaces for retail, restaurant and businesses. Some buildings were moved, and others sliced down a bit, to allow for better traffic flow around and through the development. The property is also laid out with sidewalks, crosswalks and other enhancements to make it a pedestrian and cyclist-friendly site.

The new plan includes some changes to rooflines and has most top-floor apartments incorporated into those rooflines, to help reduce visual impact, said project architect Sam Gardner (Gregg Weis & Gardner Architects, New Haven). The maximum allowable building height, 40 feet, won't be exploited, with most buildings topping out at "...three or four feet below that," said Gardner.  Building design also calls for facades and roof peaks to vary in type, breaking up what otherwise would appear as singular, vast constructs.

Atlantic Wharf will bring in an underground parking garage with 195 parking spaces below and 78 above (street level). The rest of the site's parking needs will be addressed by on-street parking.  Courtyards and fencing will create private spaces for residents, without interrupting the public's invitation to park, bike or walk to access the development.

Nine of the new buildings will rise on the riverside parcel where the former Atlantic Wire factory stands today. The tenth building will be the first to be constructed, on an empty lot across from the factory on Meadow Street. The edge of the lot abuts properties on Wilford Avenue, who have an agreement from Metro Star that a 25-foot buffer zone will be installed between their back yards and the building's parking lot at the back of the site, with plantings and a six-foot fence incorporated. As the first Atlantic Wharf building site is being constructed, the old factory will be razed. Knocking down the factory is phase two of Metro Star's five-phase construction approach to the project.

As the factory is disappearing, a major component of Atlantic Wharf's infrastructure will appear: a new, as-yet-unnamed town road. The new road, constructed by Metro Star, will include on-street parking and stop signs at 350-feet intervals to discourage thru traffic.

The new road connects a realigned (straightened) intersection at Meadow and Church Streets on one end. At the other end, it creates a four-way intersection with Montowese Street and Pine Orchard Road, where the PZC wanted Metro Star to install a traffic signal. But that idea seems to have hit a road block.  On Dec. 3, Metro Star's traffic analyst found that, by state law, anticipated traffic at the four-way intersection warrants four-way stop signs, but not a traffic light.

With regard to traffic flow around and through Atlantic Wharf, the analyst said planned stop signs and road uses will sufficiently support an anticipated 4,018 new vehicles trips created over a 24 hour period once Atlantic Wharf is functioning at peak.