Convenience Store, Gas Station Planned For Vacant Pawcatuck Site

STONINGTON, CT — A convenience store with three fuel-filling stations is being proposed for a Pawcatuck property. The developers have submitted a special use permit application for the 54 S. Broad St. site.

No official name for the store has been released yet, but architectural plans refer to it as Best Way Convenience Store. The proposal includes 17 parking spaces, according to Town Planner Clifton Iler.

Residents expressed some concerns about the plans at a Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing last month.

Charles Caldwell, who lives near the site, spoke against the project, according to minutes from the public hearing. He said he was worried about the impact on the wetlands and stormwater drainage.

Traffic is also a concern. The police commission had requested a right-turn-only exit from the property. The state Department of Transportation mentioned that a right-turn-only entrance was preferable "because otherwise a left turn lane going westbound would be required, requiring significant lane widening," according to the meeting minutes.

Caldwell said the proposal's traffic movement plan is "unrealistic" and that many people will be making left turns in and out of the site.

John Casey, a representative for the developer, did not immediately return a request from Patch for comment.

An existing structure at the site is 2,500 square feet. The proposed convenience store has a footprint of 3,300 square feet.

The site previously had various uses, including a roofing business, an automotive shop, and a gas station, Iler said.

Casey said at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that the existing gas tanks at the site were removed and the site was remediated per state Department of Environmental and Energy Protection requirements. As part of the excavation, an environmental engineer will review the new tank installation.

The public hearing was closed at the commission's last meeting Sept. 5.