Developer Confident Of Approval Of Norwalk Distribution Center

NORWALK, CT — A warehouse and distribution center has been proposed for the former Norden Systems manufacturing facility in East Norwalk, and while the developers believe it will have minimal impact, residents from parts of two communities oppose the plan.

Called the Norden Logistics Center, the proposed facility calls for close to 20 truck bays that will utilize about 300,000 square feet to warehouse and then ship products to other destinations. The plan is before the Norwalk Zoning Commission, which will hold a second public hearing about it on Jan. 7.

The developers of the Norden Place project — Ridgefield Park, New Jersey-based KABR Group and White Plains, New York-based Benerofe Properties — argue the facility would have little impact on nearby neighborhoods, though 200 truck trips per day are estimated.

"If they follow the facts and the expert reports, I believe we'll get approved," KABR managing member Adam Altman told Patch.

Altman said currently the massive facility which rests between East Norwalk and Westport along I-95 is under utilized, but the proposed project would have less impact on the area than when Norden Systems was in full swing.

"There are very few locations zoned for something like this in southern Fairfield County, which makes it a unique property," Altman said.

KABR estimates the facility will employ at least 100 logistics personnel directly, and indirectly provide more than 60 other jobs in the area.

Altman said these jobs will be well-paid, skilled systems jobs that are good for the city and the area.

Yet residents from the neighborhoods surrounding the facility do not want the proposed facility at the complex, zeroing in on what they say will be a massive disruption to those neighborhoods because of the truck trips.

Two groups, the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association and the recently formed Sasqua Hills Neighborhood Association, have called a news conference for 10 a.m. Saturday to further drive home the groups' opposition. The news conference will be held in front of the St. Thomas the Apostle school building on East Avenue in East Norwalk.

Opponents of the plan, who turned out en masse during a recent virtual public hearing before the Zoning Commission, have peppered the Planning and Zoning Department, Mayor Harry Rilling and other officials with correspondence against the proposal.

As mayor, Rilling only appoints commissioners but does not take sides nor contacts them with any opinions on project applications.

In one email exchange with a resident who is against the plan, Patricia Maher, Rilling told her that he had "not heard from anyone who is for this."

Altman said the opposition to the plan surprised him, particularly because it is an existing manufacturing facility that he and his partners could propose be used in such a fashion again.

"Our interest has been warehousing and logistics from the start," Altman said. "Such businesses are a high-caliber user with higher pay, which is better for the economy."

In an effort to assuage some concerns of area residents, KABR is proposing to spend upwards of $300,000 to help widen a portion of nearby Fitch Street, and additional funding for an entrepreneurial education program to help with the job effort.

So far, nothing the developers have said about the project has swayed the nearby residents' opposition.

"Residents' concerns and reasons for wanting the Application denied include truck and tractor trailer traffic & congestion, safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists, increased air pollution and noise pollution, and the inevitable degradation of property values in the entire neighborhood," the neighborhood groups said in a statement.