At a meeting on Aug. 17, the Inland Wetlands and Watercourse Commissions (IWWC) voted to continue a public hearing over an application to build a Whole Foods at 1654 Boston Post Road. The next meeting will be Sept. 21.

Last year, the Carpionato Group, owners of the plaza where Benny’s used to be located, met with the Zoning Commission after a late August announcement that the supermarket chain Whole Foods had signed a lease to open an Old Saybrook location.

According to an application filed earlier this summer, the Carpionato Group hopes to build a 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods location with an additional 25,465 square feet of potential retail space. The project is estimated to cost $16 million and will take 14 to 16 months to build, according to the application.

Due to wetlands near the property, the group had to file an application with the IWWC. Jeff Fitzgerald, an engineer, told the commission that the application calls for an increase of .6 acres of impervious surface. Fitzgerald said that the applicants were proposing stormwater quality improvements meant to manage peak flows.

In response to a question from Town Planner Christine Costa about reducing the number of parking spaces on the property, Carpionato Group member Dave Taglianetti said that Whole Foods has its own parking requirements that must be met under the lease. Taglianetti said that Whole Foods had also done its own demographic study to help determine parking needs.

When it came time to open the public hearing to public comment, nobody spoke against the application, but there were concerns.

Steven Sheehan, an attorney representing Chalker Beach Improvement Association, told the commission that while the association isn’t against the proposal, the association is concerned about the potential for pollution in the area. Sheehan said there is a tidal gateway located on the property that hasn’t been maintained in years. Furthermore, Sheehan said the area regularly floods and that E. coli has been found in puddles in the road and people’s property. Sheehan asked that a study be done to assess the potential damage to the water in Chalker Beach.

Those thoughts were echoed by Chalker Beach residents Louis Treschitta and Gary Albanese. Treschitta presented a petition calling for the tidal gateway to be replaced.

Fitzgerald meanwhile told the commission that Whole Foods’ septic plan is still in the process of receiving approval.

Due to the amount of information received, the commission decided to continue the public hearing so that the commission could review it. The next public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 21.

Should the Whole Foods eventually be approved, it would likely be a move welcomed by most members of the community. Whole Foods is a popular grocery store chain that has long been sought after by residents of several towns along the shoreline whenever a development opportunity presented itself. The site where it is proposed to be built in Old Saybrook is the former location of Benny’s, a department store chain that went out of business in 2017. Taglianetti said in 2022 the Carpionato group has helped redevelop 15 former Benny’s properties since then.

Over the years as major development began in nearby towns like Clinton or Branford, many residents of those towns expressed a hope that Whole Foods would go into those spaces. With the opening of an Old Saybrook location, there would finally be a closer option for people along the eastern portion of the shoreline. The nearest Whole Foods from Old Saybrook requires drives to Milford, Glastonbury, or West Hartford, so the addition of Whole Foods to Old Saybrook would be good news for residents of several area towns in addition to Old Saybrook.