SEYMOUR – Residents interested in weighing in on a proposal to build a $13 million storage unit facility on the former Housatonic Wire Co. property on River Street will have to wait a little longer.
That’s because a Seymour Inland Wetlands Commission public hearing that was scheduled to take place March 28 didn’t happen.
A rendering of proposed storage facility for 109 River St., site of former Housatonic Wire Co., in Seymour.
The commission members, along with the applicant and his engineer, showed up for the hearing at Seymour Town Hall, but were notified just prior by Seymour Planner Keith Rosenfeld that the hearing couldn’t take place.
The reason being was that the applicant/property owner Alex Budzinski failed to provide notification of the hearing to the 17 abutting property owners.
The commission scheduled a new hearing for 6:30 p.m. April 25 at Seymour Town Hall.
The same application is pending in front of the Seymour Planning & Zoning Commission. That group has scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. April 14 at Seymour Town Hall.
George Andrews, an engineer working with Budzinski, said the commission the abutting property owners were not notified within the required 15 days prior to the public hearing.
“We apologize, and it was an oversight on our behalf,” Andrews told the commission. “We ask the town to extend the application 30 days to give us adequate time to notify the property owners.”
The commission unanimously voted to grant the extension.
Even before a hearing was to take place, the proposed storage facility has been gaining lots of negative attention from residents on social media. Many have said they’d rather see the vacant parcel of land situated across from the Naugatuck River, which once housed the historic Housatonic Wire Co., remain vacant.
But that’s not how private property works in the U.S.
Budzinski said he hasn’t received much interest in the site, which has been on the market for 16 years, except for Wendy’s, which ended up building just up the road on Bank Street. The asking price for the property is $1.2 million, according to Budzinski.
“I know a lot of people aren’t happy with a storage facility, but this guy came along after 16 years, and I have no other choice,” Budzinski said, “I’m paying $20,000 a year on a piece of dirt that doesn’t make any money. Finally somebody comes along and wants to build a storage facility. I have to do what’s right for my company.”
A site plan for Brink Self Storage, a proposed four-story, 99,000-square foot facility, was previously accepted by both the Inland Wetlands and Planning and Zoning commissions. Both commissions are slated to vote on the proposal following the public hearings.
Budzinski said a Florida-based investment company, Willow Partners Redevelopment, is interested in buying the 4.5 acre site at 109 River St.
The property is currently zoned commercial/light industrial. A storage facility is allowed, according to the town’s economic development consultant, Sheila O’Malley.
Budzinski said the property is a hard-sell because it has contaminated dirt, has difficult topography and of the 4.5 acres, only about an acre and a half is useable.
He and his late father bought the property in 1977 and since had many soil tests done which Budzinski said revealed the contamination wasn’t serious enough to require a mandatory clean-up. Budzinski, however, is in the process of remediating the site, because he said the buyer wants the contaminants removed before he builds there.
Budzinski said he is working with the state under its voluntary remediation program which would monitor clean-up efforts and assure the buyer it was cleaned properly.
Budzinski, at a Board of Selectmen meeting earlier this month, addressed some of the comments he read on social media, from people wanting to see a park, a farmer’s market, apartments or a restaurant there, to fears that a storage facility would be “ugly” and cause a traffic nightmare.
“They (a storage facility) average about six cars a day coming in and out, so there’s not going to be a traffic problem there,” he said. “These aren’t going to be those little chicken coop-type of storage units. It’s going to look more like a school. There won’t be a burden on the town schools, there will be no pollution from it nor will it burden town services.”
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis has said she’s not particularly enamored with a storage facility coming there, but the property is privately-owned and as long as the proposal complies with town zoning regulations, there’s not much the town could do to stop it.
“It’s privately owned property, and the owner has the right to do what he wants,” Drugonis said previously. “I always envisioned that area for a nice restaurant, especially with the river in the background. But, we have to grow the grand list. Storage units aren’t what I envisioned there, but it is an allowable use. I’m glad (Budzinski) is doing something with his land.”
Budzinski estimated the $13 million project will be in the town’s “top five taxpayers,” and contribute some $300,000 to the town’s annual tax base.
Budzinski and his late father, John, started Housatonic Wire in 1978. The company made steel wire for paperclips and notebook bindings. Housatonic Wire 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.
