FAIRFIELD – The transformation of the Circle Hotel at the town’s gateway to its downtown can now commence after the Plan and Zoning Commission approved several zoning amendments and a special coastal area permit.
However, it’s still too early for any work to begin, according to Paulo Barrios, assistant general manager of The Circle Hotel. He told the Journal he has not seen any timeline for next steps.
The plan, which calls for replacing the Circle Hotel and building an apartment building that will include affordable housing units, was conditionally approved May 6 in two separate 5-2 votes.
The zoning amendments allow for mixed-use buildings in the Design Residence District (DRD) among many things and the special permit allows construction near a tidal wetlands area.
Spinnaker Real Estate, which is the developer of the 6.936-acre project at 441 Post Road, now has permission to demolish the hotel to make way for the project. Owners of the hotel and diner Clayton Fowler (Spinnaker CEO) and Ed Gormbley proposed the project
“For the special permit and coastal site plan, the applicant seeks a special permit to retain the Circle Diner restaurant, demolish the Circle Inn motel, and construct a new four-story, 110-room hotel bed building with ground floor guest amenity space and a new 250-unit multi-family four-story residential building that wraps around a five-level parking garage,” said Planning Director Emmeline Harrigan.
The proposed project provides a parking garage with 473 spaces and 64 surface spaces. It keeps the existing driveway for the Circle Diner that is adjacent to Old Post Road but eliminates the second driveway and proposes a shared driveway with a shared motor court for both the hotel and residential building.
As of now the diner will remain intact since the owners have a long-term lease with its owners, according to Gormbley.
During the May 6 PZC meeting, Harrigan read out a list of allowable uses for buildings in a DRD, which Spinnaker Real Estate has agreed to.
On sites of more than 6 acres with at least of 200 feet frontage of the Post Road that has dry egress out of floodways and which abuts a tidal wetland may contain the following uses:
- A hotel with no more than 115 sleeping rooms and not more than 40 units per acre with office, rentals and retail is allowed.
- No dwelling units are not allowed to be wholly or partly in the areas deemed a special flood hazard.
- Twelve percent of all dwelling units are required to be deed restricted at 80% of AMI for a period of 40 years
- Building height is limited to not more than 4 stories or 50 feet (buildings located within 85 feet of the historic district are limited to no more than three stories or 40 feet).
- There is no restriction to the number of units permitted in a building nor is there a required exterior entrance for each unit.
- Aggregate lot coverage is permitted not to exceed 40% with no floor area ratio limit provided that a portion of the lot is publicly accessible per section.
- The applicant must provide public access to the tidal wetland with reasonable rules for hours and rules.
- Off-street parking is required at one space per bedroom or 1.5 spaces per household.
- Hotel parking is required at one space per sleeping room.
- The driveway will be created in line with the proposed with the Kings Highway Phase 3 road safety project that is presently in design with the Town of Fairfield.
Tom Corsillo, the vice chair who is a Democrat, reflected a majority opinion of the PZC members during the May 6 meeting in laying out the reasons for the approval of the zoning amendments and special permit.
“This a project I am generally excited about,” Corsillo said. “I think this a project of town-wide significance and this commission is a town-wide body. We have the obligation to weigh what may be legitimate concerns raised by neighbors against the needs of the town as a whole.”
He believes the project meets a need for housing and hotel space in a two-college town such as Fairfield.
“The regulation amendments are fully consistent with the POCD (Plan of Conservation and Development),” Corsillo said. “The need for housing is well established but beyond housing fully activating an underutilized site at a critical gateway to the town along our primary commercial corridor along what I think will become a vibrant mixed-use site will not only be a vast improvement over what is there now. It will also attract investment along the surrounding Post Road and growing our tax base.”
Fellow Commissioner Daniel Ford, a Republican, pointed out the community support.
“I think the voters of Fairfield support these types of developments, which is reflected in our most recent election,” Ford said. “I’ve been saying once a week now, and our most recent state rep elections show this, the town of Fairfield spoke. They rejected candidates that were running on a platform that stood against these type of applications.”
Alexis Harrison, the PZC secretary and a Republican, is adamantly opposed to the project because of its vicinity to Turney Creek, a tidal wetland. She also thinks that Spinnaker’s use of the affordable housing state statute 8 30 (g) to put the project through as affordable housing was wrong.
“This is spot zoning at its worst,” Harrison said. “There is only site that it relates to in town and that is the Exide site at 2190 Post Road that has been approved for a Porsche dealership.
“To me, it’s bizarre for the applicant to ask this commission, which is responsible for protecting our coastal resources, to pass a regulation for land that is within 15 feet of tidal wetlands.”
As for 8 30 (g), Harrison related a conversation she had with the developer.
“There is an 8 30(g) application pending by the same applicant for a 478-unit apartment building on the same site, which was filed right before we got the (state 8 30 (g)) moratorium on April 1. When I questioned that vision – because they had two paths – he said that was filed as a back-up plan. To me, it’s distressing that 8 30(g) allows developers to file repeat applications at the same time on the same property.”
Residents living near Circle Hotel had banded together to oppose the proposed hotel and apartment complex for myriad reasons. They even created an online petition that received 413 signatures and spoke up at a long hearing before the PZC.
