Medical Facility to Continue Transformation of Stepney

Buildings along Main Street are starting to appear more colonial and the landscaping is getting greener as the Town Plan of Conservation & Development encourages developers to propose site plans that enhance the appearance of Monroe's commercial districts. A new outpatient facility at 427 Main Street will continue that trend.

Planning & Zoning Commissioners unanimously approved a special permit application Thursday night for the demolition of an old bank building and construction of a 3,900-square-foot outpatient facility that will be an affiliate of Danbury Hospital.

Aside from landscaping with hedges and evergreens that are lush year-round, the medical facility's site plan includes adding sidewalks, eliminating three curb cuts and sharing the existing driveway for the Stepney Crossing shopping center at 435 Main Street.

David Sippin, a managing partner of 427 Main Street LLC, the owner of the property, said the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the town want to reduce the number of curb cuts from which vehicles turn onto the state roadway — and hold up traffic while waiting to turn into them — to improve safety and traffic flow.

Michael Gallante, the traffic consultant hired by the applicant, said the outpatient facility will add minimal traffic to Route 25.

The outpatient facility will be open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will be closed on Sundays.

"We feel it's just an excellent project bringing in a quality, low impact use — a quiet use," Sippin said in a telephone interview Friday. "We feel our grounds are very attractive and are certainly an improvement from what is there now. We're very pleased we received a unanimous and timely vote too."

The plan calls for the demolition of an existing 1,900 square foot building next to Stepney Baptist Church, a gray building that used to be a bank with a drive-thru window. The church had most recently used the building as a meeting place before it fell into disrepair.

The Sippins bought it from the church last year.

In its place, the developer will construct a one-story bungalow-style building with stone around the foundation. The "water table" design originally did not continue to the back of the building.

P&Z Commission Chairman Richard Zini asked if there were any reservations to making it go around the entire building, since the back of it could be seen from the road. Sippin had no problem with the request.

Dormers will be used for skylights to make the interior calming to patients, according to Richard Merrell, the architect for the project.

Merrell said earth tones will be used, with beiges and light browns.

The commission wants the developer to enlarge a center window facing Main Street and to enhance its appearance.

Sippin said the front of the medical facility will face Route 59, with patients turning into the Stepney Crossing parking lot and driving toward the building. The Sippins own both properties.

Among the conditions of approval, Zini wants a substantial row of hedges to break up the two parking lots, so it is not "a sea of pavement."

In addition to a commission requirement to add more evergreens to the landscaping plan, the site plan already included tearing up a significant amount of asphalt in the bank parking lot and replacing it with grass.

Commissioner Joel Leneker said having stone facing on a monument sign would make it match up better with the bungalow-style building and the commission made it a condition.

Other conditions bar the use of floodlights for the property and require mirrored landscaping to both sides of the entrance of the driveway.

The property is across the street from the historic Stepney Green, so Zini wants granite curbing out to Main Street, something the developer would have to work out with the DOT, which is making improvements to the intersection there.

That is the only recommendation Sippin has a problem with.

Commissioners expressed enthusiasm over the project before approving it by a vote of 5-0.

During a public comment portion of the meeting, Lee Hossler, chairman of the Economic Development Commission in town, was the only one who spoke.

"I think it's a good use for this location," Hossler said. "It's visually attractive. I think it will be a good neighbor. It's something we don't have on this side of town. In fact, I don't think we have anything like it in town. I hope you approve it."

"Our tenant, Danbury Hospital, is eager to get going," Sippin said Friday. They're very happy and eager to be here in Monroe. We hope to start the demolition work within a few weeks and construction within a month and have it completed by early fall."