Due to a decision to wait for completed peer reviews of engineering and wetlands reports, Costco has withdrawn its application in order to re-submit it and “reset the clock” on the public hearing process, said Branford Inland Wetlands Officer Diana Ross.

Last week, Branford’s Inlands Wetlands Office and Inland Wetlands Agency (IWA) received letters from attorneys for Costco Wholesale Corp. notifying that the company would withdraw site plans submitted in September, and then immediately re-submit the plans. The change will allow the company more time to review newly ordered IWA peer reviews ahead of the start of a public hearing. The hearing will be on Costco’s inland wetland site plans for a two-phase development at the Exit 56 site, based on a master plan approved by Branford Planning & Zoning Commission in June. The large IWA application includes a total of three separate applications to cover all phases of property development on the 44 acre-parcel. All three applications were withdrawn with the intent of immediate re-submission.

At the Nov. 12 IWA meeting, the IWA is expected to review bids and hire a pair of professionals to conduct peer reviews of engineering and scientific wetlands reports submitted by Costco, Ross said.

The re-submitted Costco application was expected to be received on Nov. 10 by Branford Inlands Wetlands Office so that the IWA could take formal receipt of the application at its Nov. 12 meeting. The public hearing needs to be opened within 65 days of IWA receipt of an application and closed within a month’s time (although an additional 65 days of extension time is available).

“We don’t want to limit the public hearing, and the applicant wanted to get peer reviews in before the public hearing starts,” said Ross. “By doing this, they reset the clock so they get the full time again.”