Naugatuck Chinese Food Restaurant Proposes New Building

A Chinese food restaurant on New Haven Road has filed plans with the borough to relocate its business to a neighboring property.

The owners of Hunan Wok, located at 1183 New Haven Road, filed a proposal with the Zoning Office to build a new combined restaurant and apartment structure at 1177 New Haven Road, located just next door.

The owners hope to demolish a small cape house that already sits on the 1.6-acre property at 1177 New Haven Road, and to make room for a 6,000 square-foot building with 38 parking spaces, explained David Hughes, an engineer behind the plan.

Hughes said the proposed restaurant would offer a small takeout area as well as a seating section. The second floor would then be fit for apartments and office space, he said. The driveway would also expand, from its current 12-foot width to 20 feet.

According to the proposal, the restaurant would sit near the intersection between New Haven Road and Candee Road, however the driveway would be situated several feet south from the nearby traffic light between those two roads.

Hughes presented the proposal to the borough Police Commission on Tuesday during its main meeting at the Naugatuck Police Department. When any new zoning project is filed, the commission is in charge of making sure the proposed site is in line with traffic patterns on nearby roads.

The Planning Commission already gave a positive referral to the proposal during a meeting last week. After the Police Commission, Hughes said the proposal would go before the Inlands Wetlands Commission — due to the fact that the proposed site is adjacent to Straitsville Brook — and then finally to the Zoning Commission.

Police Commission members, while not opposed to the project, voiced their concern with the heavy traffic at the nearby intersection. The commissioners noted that it can get heavily congested on that portion of New Haven Road during certain hours of the day, particularly when taking into account the traffic coming from the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street.

But Hughes said he felt the traffic light was fortunately there to help alleviate some of that heavy traffic. Still, Chairman Steven Smith noted that it is still difficult to take a left-hand turn when leaving the plaza where Hunan Wok is currently located.

Ultimately, the Police Commission voted to recommend the proposal, pending approval from the state Department of Transportation. Hughes said the DOT is expected to review the plan for not only the traffic concerns but also drainage and grading issues.