By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Orange Town Plan & Zoning Commission today unanimously approved an application to build a distribution and maintenance facility for a business-to-business shipping company at the long-vacant “Stew Leonard” property, clearing the way for development to get underway.
The proposal includes 47,178 square foot business-to-business distribution facility and a 9,680 square foot maintenance building at 161 Marsh Hill Rd.
Attorney John W. Knuff of the firm Hurwitz Sagarin Slossberg & Knuff is representing the contract purchaser of the property, developer Scannell Properties LLC, and the owner, Stew Leonards Orange LLC.
Knuff first brought the proposal to the commission at its Nov. 7 meeting, but at that time the proposal was still awaiting final approval from the Inland Wetlands Commission. Since then, all the town departments have signed off on the plans.
Several residents spoke during the public hearing of their concerns about the truck traffic that would be generated by the development. But commission members pointed out that a previously approved office building that was never constructed on the site would have generated far more traffic.
First Selectman Jim Zeoli appeared before the commission and agreed with that assessment. He said it was not the “sexiest” project, but that it complied with all the regulations and would be beneficial for the town. He said the town would be looking at more proposals of this kind as brick-and-mortar retailers give way to internet shopping.
TPZC chair Oscar Parente said the proposal was “very well put together” and clearly was an allowed use for the light industrial zone in which the property sits. He ticked through an extensive list of the requirements the applicant had met and said he could not see any legitimate reason to deny the applicant on zoning grounds.
The land has been dormant for over 20 years. Stew Leonard Jr. had tried for 14 years to create a supermarket and petting zoo there before abandoning that project in 2010.