An illustration depicting the self-storage facility.
SEYMOUR — A $13 million proposal to bring a self-storage unit facility to the former Housatonic Wire Co. site on River Street, while drawing lots of opposition online, drew just one public comment in-person during a hearing Wednesday Thursday (April 14).
Only two members of the public showed up for the Planning and Zoning Commission’s public hearing on the proposal, which if built, could annually pump more than $300,000 into the town’s tax base.
The 4.5‑acre site at 109 River St. has remained vacant since 2010 when a massive fire consumed most of the historic building. During its heyday, Housatonic Wire produced steel wire for paperclips and notebook bindings from the late 1970s until it closed in 2008.
Property owner Alex Budzinski said he has tried for the better part of 14 years to market and sell the property. One nibble from Wendy’s came along, but because it was a corner lot, Wendy’s built elsewhere. It wasn’t until very recently that Budzinski heard from a Florida-based investor willing to purchase the site, which has an asking price of $1.2 million.
Budzinski along with an attorney and engineer aired the site plan before the commission Wednesday. The commission opted to continue the hearing until its next meeting May 12, as the Inland Wetlands Commission must hold its public hearing (scheduled for 6:30 April 25 at Town Hall) and vote on the proposal, prior to the PZC casting a vote.
Attorney Mark Ziogas, representing the applicant, said the proposal calls for construction of a four-story, 100,000-square-foot building on just under two acres. Each of the four floors would contain individual self-storage units for people to store their stuff. Ziogas said storage facilities are not high traffic generators, and will likely see four to five car trips to the facility per day. He also said the facility would not put an increased burden on town or schools services.
“It’s an attractive project and it’s going to be a boon to the town,” Ziogas said. “It will likely be among the town’s top five taxpayers, expected to generate about $315,000 a year in taxes.”
The property is zoned commercial/light industrial and the storage facility is a permitted use, according to the town’s Economic Development Consultant Sheila O’Malley.
The plan also includes turn-around space for larger moving trucks, as well as fire trucks, to navigate in and out of the site, according to the project engineer Alisa Morrison of Loureiro Engneering of Plainville. She said retaining walls would be installed at the back of the property and the site would be landscaped with a variety of trees of bushes.
Town Engineer Brian Nesteriak asked for more detail on the turnaround allowances on the site, because he’s uncertain it’s sufficient enough for large moving trucks to navigate.
“We cannot have trucks this size backing up onto River Street,” Nesteriak said.
Local engineer Donald Smith, Jr. was the only resident to speak during the hearing. Smith is representing nearby Trinity Cemetery, which abuts the River Street property on a high hill. Smith expressed concerns that there wasn’t enough information or details about what the retaining walls are going to look like, how tall they’ll be and whether they will be adequate enough to not impact the cemetery above.
“I want to make sure the cemetery property doesn’t end up down below in the storage parking lot,” Smith said. “I have no concerns about the building itself, but I have significant concerns over these retaining walls and how they will impact the cemetery. There are no details in this (site) plan on what the walls will actually look like and that scares me.”
Morrison said while the site plan didn’t include a detailed plan for the retaining walls, they will be designed by a professional engineer.
No other residents from the abutting properties showed up for the hearing. The inland wetlands hearing that was originally supposed to happen March 28 had to be rescheduled to April 25 because the abutting property owners were not notified of the hearing within the required timeframe.
Budzinski had said while there’s lots of people on social media expressing opposition to a storage facility, without other options on the table, he has to do what he thinks is best. Many have posted comments about wanting to the see property turned into a farmer’s market, a park, apartments or a restaurant.
Budzinski and his late father, John, started Housatonic Wire in 1978. The company closed in 2008 when Budzinski sold the operation to Taconic Wire in North Branford. The brick building sat vacant until the fire in Sept. 2010 consumed most of it. The fire was ruled accidental after contractors working inside were using blow torches to cut up metal pipes.
Budzinski began demolition shortly after the fire, but a series of delays and red tape with insurance claims halted remediation efforts until 2014, when the former burned out eyesore was finally leveled.
