Big Changes Planned on Small Stretch of Post Road

Big changes are proposed for a small stretch of the Post Road between Sasco Hill Road and Fairfield Place.

A vacant two-story building at the corner of Sasco Hill and Post roads would be demolished and replaced by a larger building with a bank and retail tenants on the first floor and offices on the second floor, and, on nearly a half-acre nearby at 2291 Post Road, an 8,000-square-foot medical building would be built, according to applications filed in the town's Zoning Department in Sullivan-Independence Hall.

The two properties are across the Post Road from the vacant 6.25-acre property where Exide Battery Co. once stood.

William Fitzpatrick, the attorney for Torrey D. Brooks of Old Greenwich and B.V. Brooks of Jennie Lane in Westport, who own the 0.49-acre at 2307 Post Road, said the age and condition of the vacant building, which once had retail and office tenants and apartments, didn't warrant a renovation. He added that parking spaces in front of the building require people to back onto the Post Road when leaving the property, which is unsafe.

"When we analyzed the property, we really felt a new building was the way to go," Fitzpatrick said.

Parking for the new building would be between the building and the Post Road and also beneath the building, according to Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick said in the zoning application that the first floor of the proposed building would include retail tenants and a drive-thru for a bank and that the second floor would have business and professional offices. The existing building at 2307 Post Road has a total floor area of 7,530 square feet and the new building would have a total floor area of 11,563 square feet, according to the application.

The Devan Infiniti car dealership plans to move to Commerce Drive in April but appears to be on a separate property than land where the medical building is proposed.

Charles Jankovsky, the attorney for a limited liability company that owns the 2291 Post Road property, said in his zoning application that a development had been approved for the site several years ago by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission but never went forward due to the bad economy, and the approval lapsed.

Jankovsky wasn't available Friday afternoon to comment on the proposal for the medical building, and William R. Christian, a Fairfield resident and principal in the LLC, couldn't be reached.

Both proposed buildings require approval of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, which is comprised of 10 elected volunteer residents, seven of whom vote on development applications.