Branford has given the green light to build an Aldi grocery store, together with a stand-alone Chase Bank, at 1151 West Main Street.

On June 4, following the close of a multi-part public hearing on the application, and discussion which further adjusted conditions provided by Town Planner Harry Smith, the application was approved by unanimous vote of the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC).

The PZC public hearing was opened on May 21. All meetings took place during Zoom media conferences taped for the Town by BCTV.

The approved site plan calls for a 19,210 square foot Aldi store and an approximate 3,000 square foot Chase Bank located on about 9 acres of property. The applicant is Sound Development Group (Trumbull) and property owners John Maturo, Melissa Maturo Kaiser, Nicole Maturo and Charles Maturo. The property fronts West Main Street/Route 1 and last was used as a car dealership site, with the building since demolished.

During the final night of the public hearing on the application, one concern was raised by a Mill Creek Road resident who asked the PZC not to rush to judgement. She felt impacts from construction could potentially affect wetlands on the property and those beyond, and questioned why the property needed to include a bank as well as the store. The project will also include rock crushing of ledge, which the resident pointed out has turned another PZC-approved project, 250 North Main St., into a "quarry."

Attorney John W. Knuff (Hurwitz, Sagarin, Slossberg & Knuff, Milford) responded to those comments, saying the application has been "scrutinized to an incredible degree" during its review by the Inlands Wetlands Commission (IWC), which began in December 2019. By of vote of three in favor, one opposed, one abstention, the IWC approved the land development plan on May 14.

"The project benefited from that scrutiny," said Knuff, also noting there is a "... particular amount of overlap" between the IWC and PZC's work.

As to question of why there is a need for both commercial buildings on buildings on the site, Knuff said the project is "simply not viable without both users." He also pointed out the placing a total of 22,000 square feet of buildings on a 9 acre site, even one such as this, which has wetlands, ledge, power lines and rip rap already constraining it, is a modest ask.

"It is an incredibly modest proposal," said Knuff. "Particularly with the amount of clean up we have to do. I think it's absolutely the best project for that site, given the challenges."

Also during the June 4 hearing, PZC chair Chuck Andres pressed for more information on how the traffic into the site, particularly vehicles turning left from the westbound lane of Route 1, will impact an already "notorious" traffic area.

"That lane is not much. Five cars [that wanted to get in] and a light change ...would back things up into the next lane," said Andres. "You guys are locating in a terrible area [with] four lights right in a row, zoned commercial...its notorious. I get that its state roads, except for Commercial Parkway [and] I know it's going to be reviewed by OSTA, [but] I don't know what they can do."

The project's Traffic Engineer, Mike Shepley (BL Companies, Meriden) said he was "comfortable" bringing the plan to the Office of the State Traffic Administration　(OSTA) for additional impact assessment. He said OSTA would detail any additional requirements or changes, such as traffic signal cycling, if needed.

"[OSTA] will require us to mitigate the intersection as much as we physically can out there," said Shepley, adding, in his assessment, "...most times, you're not going to see any back-ups out there. There store's length is adequate enough for most periods in the day."

Shepley also noted that the area is part of a long-term plan to create the Branford Connector Corridor. The objective for the corridor is to improve the accessibility between I-95 at Exit 53, Commercial Parkway, and US Route 1.

Other issues of concern addressed on June 4 included plantings at the site, particularly the number of large shade trees that should be planted along West Main Street, to create a "gateway" area as vehicles come into town off of I-95 Exit 53, in accordance with the Plan of Conservation and Development. Discussion also involved what additional greenery could be added to the site to soften its visual impact.  Knuff said the project team is prepared to "...satisfy maximizing landscaping as much as we possibly can, consistent with site restraints." The project team also agreed to add the installation of conduits to allow the site to include electric vehicle charging stations, which was another request brought up by a resident during the public hearing process.

The five commission members voting unanimously to approve the application June 4 were PZC chair Andres and commissioners John Lust, Joe Chadwick, Joe Vaisuo and Marci Palluzzi.

Knuff said the project would get underway soon.

"Aldi's and Chase, remarkably, in this environment, want to get started," Knuff told the PZC on June 4.  "They want to construct. This is going to be a great project for the town."