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07/28/2015 02:00 PMThe Planning & Zoning Commission will host a public hearing on several issues on Monday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. at Clinton Town Hall, but one proposal seeking to limit new commercial developments to 40,000 square feet (and in turn attempt to limit the recycling center project at the old Unilever warehouse site on Route 145) will likely be the focus for most audience members.
Founders Village Homeowners Associations, Inc., has filed a petition to amend zoning regulations for commercial recreational facilities; manufacturing, processing, or assembling of goods; warehousing and wholesale businesses; and research laboratories, associated offices, and buildings. Founders Village’s petition also proposes to restrict any new commercial developments in Clinton to less than 40,000 square feet.
Founders Village is in the midst of trying to have a Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) variance appealed. The variance allowed Shoreline Rail and Recycling to extend its time to file with the Planning & Zoning Commission a plan to erect a 90,000-plus square foot recycling facility at the former Unilever warehouse. Current regulations allow a property owner take up to two years to replace a facility (the 140,000-square foot Unilever warehouse collapsed under heavy snow load in February 2013).
According to Founders Village’s attorney Keith Ainsworth, Shoreline Rail and Recycling had two years to reconstruct the same size building on the same footprint at its Unilever site.
“Part of the reason for taking that appeal is [Founder’s Village residents’] general opposition to the use of the site for a recycling center due to traffic, noise, general threats to the environment,” said Ainsworth. “It’s industrial recycling. What’s been disclosed so far is they’ll recycle fairly harmless things, but other substances may be processed there that may be harmful. There are no restrictions on what they’re planning on doing.”
Eric Knapp, the town’s Zoning & Wetlands enforcement officer, noted that this public hearing has “nothing specifically to do with” the recycling site, though Founders Village is behind both the appeal and the petition.
“It’s a town-wide application and wouldn’t affect this site at this time because they have a variance,” said Knapp. “They are looking to change the regulations townwide in hopes they would impact this facility.”
Knapp pointed out that this public hearing is for the discussion of the petition to limit the size of new commercial developments to less than 40,000 square feet—among other agenda items—and there is not an application for the recycling plant.
“I’m not involved in the effort before Planning & Zoning,” said Ainsworth. “I’m representing [Founders Village] in the [ZBA] appeal so this is not something I’m directly involved in. The action [for the appeal] was filed last month and has been served. It will be months before this resolves.”