A central Connecticut town faces two significant development initiatives over the next month
In Cromwell, a Middletown excavating company is looking to establish a rock-crushing operation and a New York-based developer is asking to revise the plan for a 267-unit apartment complex on the former Crowne Plaza site.
Gallitto Construction is requesting a permit to allow stone crushing at 150 Sebethe Drive, an industrial property in a relatively remote section of town where it already trucks in large quantities of rock. It would use a 41-foot long mobile crusher along with an excavator.
Residents will get to hear details and then speak about the proposal at a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing Tuesday evening.
The company wants to be allowed to use a commercial crusher to process the rock on site, but says it wouldn’t be done frequently.
“The amount of materials and truck traffic for a daily basis would vary due to the materials availability. My estimation of trucked in materials to make a pile may take up to one to two months for crushing, therefore I am not looking to crush on an everyday basis,” the company said in a Jan. 11 letter to town officials.
“Crushing would vary on the availability of supply and demand,” it said, estimating that crushing could take about a week each time.
The company said it envisions a similar operation to what Newington-based Paramount construction and General Construction run.
Gallitto requested a permit allowing operations Mondays to Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., but town zoning officials are considering tightening that significantly.
“We want to create proposed conditions of approval that protect the neighbors,” said Andrew Armstrong, director of planning and development.
Armstrong has recommended limiting the company to four one-week periods a year for crushing, and requiring it to meet with commissioners after the first year to evaluate any concerns. He also wants Gallitto to provide an annual report listing operating times and the amount of material crushed.
Zoning Enforcement Officer Bruce Driska this week recommended limiting the schedule to weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and requiring Gallitto to notify his office in writing each time it plans to conduct crushing operations.
“The typical concerns from such an operation would be noise, dust and the management of the material piles to prevent migration of sediments,” Town Engineer Jon Harriman wrote last week. “The noise is covered by town ordinance, and the equipment listed appears to include a means of wetting the operation to reduce dust. The commission may wish to explore the material management plan with the applicant.”
In March, commissioners will hear Alpine Residential’s plan for redeveloping the long-abandoned hotel property at 100 Berlin Road.
A covered side entrance stands boarded at the one-time Crowne Plaza in Cromwell that hosted hundreds of statewide conferences and conventions. Plans are in the works to demolish the hotel for more than 200 apartments and a retail complex. Photograph by Mark Mirko | [email protected]
Once a thriving Crowne Plaza, the hotel was downgraded to a Radisson and then a Red Lion before closing abruptly in early 2020 when the state suspended its tax permit. Lexington Partners bought the site with plans for a large-scale apartment complex, but progress stalled and last fall it agreed to sell the property to Alpine.
Alpine has already gotten a special permit for a 267-unit apartment complex on the property, but it will now go to a March 3 hearing for approval to construct mixed-use housing.
The company wants to build a one-story, 13,000-square-foot retail building and two five-story apartment buildings between 112,000 square feet and 120,000 square feet. The complex would have a pool and 12,000-square-foot courtyard, along with a total of about 4,900 square feet of indoor amenity space.
“This area is lined with an associated 2,200 square-foot stand-alone amenity building that is intended to be the central arrival point for visitors and future residents,” according to its plan.
Town officials have been upbeat about getting the property back into productive use, and are particularly eager to see the vandalized and water-damaged old building demolished. Urban explorers for years have been breaking into the wrecked hotel to take social media videos of the mess.