A view of 557 Wakelee Ave. taken March 1, 2018.
ANSONIA — A plan to build a motel on Wakelee Avenue has been scrapped, according to attorney Dominick Thomas.
Thomas represents Aijaz Ahmen, of New York, who had an application in front of the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission to build a 25-room motel, gas station, bar, and food kiosks at 557 Wakelee Ave., off exit 19 of Route 8 north. The property formerly housed restaurant-catering hall Molto Bene and, before that, John J. Sullivan’s.
The project was met with stiff opposition from neighbors, Mayor David Cassetti, and members of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen. Neighbors worried the motel would attract criminals to the property, and criticized a motel Ahmen already owns in Waterbury.
A public hearing on the plans had been scheduled to resume Wednesday, but Thomas pulled his client’s application Tuesday morning (June 15).
In an email Tuesday, Thomas said a revised plan could be submitted — but it won’t include a motel, the aspect of the proposal that caused the most controversy among critics.
“Confirmed. The application is withdrawn. We are in the process of discussing the revised plan which will not include a motel,” Thomas said.
A revised plan could be submitted to the P&Z Commission in July, according to Mayor Cassetti.
“I’m happy that they took the motel out and are revising things,” Cassetti said Tuesday. The mayor said he prefers the property to remain as a banquet facility, something the city needs.
Last month, David Elder, Ansonia’s city planner, submitted a memo to the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission questioning whether a motel could be placed near residential homes, a playground and playing fields, all of which are nearby on Wakelee Avenue.
“Given this commercial site is relatively isolated from any other developed commercial uses and is situated among residential properties and municipal uses frequented by community youths, the motel use submitted with this site plan creates potential risk of exposure to crime and nuisance behavior exhibited at similar motel uses along the Route 8 corridor and central Connecticut,” Elder wrote.
The planner called the proposed motel use and the uses at nearby properties “incompatible.”
In addition to the motel and gas station, Ahmen’s application to Ansonia envisioned what was described as a ‘mini-rest stop,’ with leased kiosks that would sell food (as seen in highway rest stops), a bar, and, possibly, a small meeting area for conferences and such.
Elder questioned whether so many uses could go on one property in the commercial zone.
Neighbors, however, could still be opposed to the revised plans, as many questioned the need for a gas station on Wakelee since there are already a few nearby. Neighbors had questioned how much traffic a ‘mini-rest stop’ could bring to Wakelee Avenue.
