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April 9, 2024

A year after approving it, Wallingford P&Z denies zone change for restaurant

Google Earth An unoccupied house and shed are seen on 10 Mansion Road on a lot that sought a zone change to create a restaurant in Wallingford.
By David Krechevsky

Just over a year after it unanimously granted approval, the Wallingford Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday denied a zone change application for a controversial restaurant.

The commission, continuing a public hearing that opened in January, was reconsidering a zone change application from Lost & Found Ventures LLC for a parcel at the corner of Mansion Road and South Turnpike Road, less than a mile south of the Oakdale Theatre. An unoccupied house and shed exist on the property.

The applicant, Joe Flamini, and his partners have proposed developing a restaurant and food truck park on the property, which angered abutting residential property owners. The proposal received approval for a permit from the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission in October.

As explained by the applicant’s attorney, Dennis Ceneviva of Meriden, Flamini in 2021 agreed to buy two parcels — 8 and 10 Mansion Road — on the condition that a zone change would be approved for 10 Mansion Road, which is also known as 0 South Turnpike Road. That parcel is primarily zoned R-18, a single-family residential zone, with the rest zoned DD-40, a commercial zone that allows for a variety of uses that include restaurants and retail shops.

Ceneviva said there are “two compelling reasons” to approve a zone change to make the entire property DD-40, saying it would allow a better site for development and remove the complications of dealing with two “mutually exclusive uses.” 

The P&Z had unanimously approved the application in March 2023, but a town filing error voided that decision, Ceneviva said.

He told the commission that the town’s corporation counsel had determined that “the failure of the town to file a copy of the zoning map and zoning amendment with the town clerk made that particular zone change void.”

Following the commission’s unanimous decision last year, abutting property owners and residents on Mansion Road protested the proposed restaurant, saying it will disrupt their neighborhood, increase traffic, hurt their property values and harm the environment. Residents of the Heritage Woods condominium complex, located just up Mansion Road from the parcel, also said they were never notified of the original public hearing on the zone change application.

Ceneviva denied that the applicant had failed to provide adequate notice, stating that a meeting notice was published in the local newspaper and that abutting property owners within 500 feet had received notices.

He added that nothing had changed from the original vote last year. “Maybe you might see it otherwise, but as a practical matter, you’ve got a piece of land that has a double zoning which really makes it very awkward for development.”

Ceneviva also stressed that the only application being considered was for a zone change. “This is not a site plan application, not a special permit application,” he said. “So the fact that Mr. Flamini may have a specific use in his mind is really not relevant to the issue of a zone change.”

Several commission members, however, cited the notification issue among their reasons for having doubts about reapproving the zone change. 

“I went back and I looked at the March meeting,” said member David Parent. “What was significant was that there was no public comment. A lot of the individual lot owners had never received a notice that the zone change was being discussed. Here was the presentation, and nobody seemed to object, and the commission voted.”

He said members later discovered there had not been adequate notice, saying that if there had been, “there would have been evidence in opposition. To say that what you did a year ago should be binding on what you do tonight, well no. It’s two completely different situations.”

Member Jeffrey Kohan agreed, stating that notification about the original public hearing was sent only to the condo association management and not to individual owners. “That was your responsibility,” he said.

Commission member James Fitzsimmons, meanwhile, said he now believed a zone change that would make the entire parcel R-18 “is more appropriate for the site.” Other members agreed. 

Several members of the public who live on Mansion Road raised objections to the proposal, citing its potential impact on wildlife and traffic, which they said is already heavy, especially during events hosted by the Oakdale Theatre.

Member Steven Allinson, however, said he did not believe the commission should change its decision.

“The application that is before us tonight vs. the application that was in the newspaper are two different things,” he said. “As far as the zone change of the property, I don’t see an issue with that. As far as an application going forward, I’m concerned about … everything the public has raised tonight. But that’s not what’s before us tonight.”

Allinson said he can envision certain commercial businesses that would be appropriate for the property. “That being said, I don’t think we can pick and choose because we’ve seen and heard conjecture about what might come before us.”

After closing the hearing, the commission voted 4-1 to deny the application, with Allinson the lone vote against the denial.

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