Contractors yard planned on Route 7

Traffic gets heavy during commuter hours on Route 7 near where a contractors yard is proposed. This is early evening looking south. The proposed development would be on the east side of Route 7, to the left. Macklin Reid photo

A year after Ergotech withdrew plans for a light manufacturing facility on Route 7, bowing out in the face of neighborhood opposition, the three-acre site bordering The Regency at Ridgefield condominium complex has been proposed for development as a facility that contractors could work out of and store construction equipment.

Multi-unit contractors yard is the description of the proposed use in an application to the Planning and Zoning Commission by Larry Leary Development LLC, longtime owner of the site.

Its a base of operations for a contractor, with a place for supplies and equipment, said Town Planner Betty Brosius, describing the plans. Youll get plumbers, electricians, landscape companies and other type of specialty trucks whoever needs a garage space and a little bit of office space and a restroom, and they store the trucks and equipment and apparatus.

The commission accepted the application last week, and scheduled the proposal for a public hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 5. The commissions usual Tuesday evening meeting is pushed back a day that week, because Nov. 4 is Election Day.

The property is on the east side of Route 7, a little south of the intersection of Route 35, directly across from Little Pond. The development site of a little less than three acres is wedged between Route 7 and the 73-unit Regency complex, which is to the east and north of the commercially zoned Leary property. The Regency condominiums are at a considerably higher elevation than the Route 7 frontage of the site, where development of the contractors yard is planned.

The site improvement includes four buildings containing multiple contractor units and the driving and parking areas to support the four structures, John McCoy of JFM Engineering wrote in the application for Leary Development.

In a pre-submission concept discussion with the commission, Mr. McCoy described the plans as a contractors yard with rental units for equipment and possible outdoor storage for equipment in parking spaces.

Four buildings totaling more than 13,000 square feet and containing a total of 14 units, are described in the application, with a parking area to accommodate 36 cars or trucks.

The development plans show two front buildings off Route 7, each two and one-half stories with three contractors units and 2,887 square feet of space. Behind those are two more buildings, one and one-half stories high, each with four contractors units and 3,841 square feet of space.

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Contractors yard planned on Route 7