By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Orange Town Plan and Zoning Commission Feb. 6 delayed a vote on whether to allow a Cheshire-based children’s therapy center to open a branch in town over concerns about traffic and opposition some neighborhood opposition.
Cheshire Fitness Zone is seeking to open a satellite office at 564 Racebrook Road. The property, which contains about 3,000 square feet of space, was most recently occupied by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
If approved, the Orange location would be the CFZ’s third. In addition to its home office in Cheshire, it already has a satellite office in Meriden.
According to its website, CFZ specializes in providing physical, occupational and speech therapy to special-needs children. The business serves clients from birth to age 21.
The move requires the approval from the TPZC because the office is in a residential zone. The previous tenants were grandfathered in when the zone was created, but the proposed center constitutes a different type of use for the space.
At the commission meeting, CFZ owner Craig Goldstein said the existing building could adequately fill his needs.
“There are no plans or ability to increase the footprint of the building,” he assured the commission, “so we would just work with what we have there.”
At least one Orange resident, however, had already voiced opposition to the plan. Zoning Administrator and Enforcement Officer Paul Dinice read a letter into the record from Robert Mohyer, who lives on Racebrook Road.
“I am against any change in the status of this property,” the letter read. “I believe it would set a precedent for other grandfathered properties.”
Mohyer’s letter described the traffic situation in the area as already untenable for a residential neighborhood. “Accidents have become more frequent here. Additional traffic going into and out of this property will only exacerbate the traffic conditions.”
The letter suggested Goldstein take one of the available spaces along the Boston Post Road instead. But Goldstein dismissed that possibility. “The Post Road is very busy and overstimulating to kids,” he said.
He also disputed the idea that his business would increase traffic in the area above what it had been when the real estate offices occupied the property. He estimated that the facility would see 40 to 50 kids per day and stressed that these appointments would be staggered throughout the day.
The owner of the property, Frank D’Ostilio, backed up Goldstein’s assessment. He ran William Orange Realty from the space, which he’s owned since 1970. On Tuesdays they would have group meetings that included 10 employees and 50 realtors, far more people than CFZ would have on the premises at any one time.
“As far as I know, that continued right up until November when they (Coldwell Banker) left,” he said.
D’Ostilio also pointed out that the spot was never a house. It had been a farm equipment store when he bought it.
Goldstein said the maximum number of cars he could envision being parked there at any one time would be around 20. The parking lot already contains around 40 parking spaces.
Commission member Paul Kaplan agreed with Goldstein that there probably wouldn’t be much impact on traffic flow, given that the area is already highly trafficked.
Vice Chair Judy Smith wasn’t entirely convinced, though. “In my opinion, it’s going to be a slightly more intense use than what’s currently there,” she said. “If you’re open 11 hours a day, like you are in Cheshire, at eight patients an hour, that’s 88 cars a day. Times five days a week, that’s 440 cars. I don’t think the real estate business did that many.”
She said she wanted to hold off on a vote until the next meeting on Feb. 20, so she could hear the opinion of commission member Kevin Cornell, who was absent.