ORANGE – City zoning officials have rejected a proposal for a community ride center and electric vehicle showroom on Marsh Hill Road, fearing the project would create dangerous traffic conditions on a busy thoroughfare.
The application, submitted last year on behalf of Noble Energy Real Estate Holdings LLC, proposed to build an area of 8,384 square meters. community travel center and 23,000-sq.-ft electric vehicle showroom at 88 Marsh Hill Road. Plans included gas pumps and electric vehicle chargers, a convenience store, ice cream stand and a coffee and sandwich shop.
The city’s Plan and Zoning Commission unanimously denied the application, saying the proposed activity was “too intense” given the already busy traffic conditions that exist around the site, which is located near an Interstate-95 exit ramp.
According to a traffic review study by WSP USA, the proposal would have increased traffic volume on that stretch of Marsh Hill Road by 5,000 vehicles a day, on top of the roughly 16,000 to 20,000 vehicles that currently travel that road a day. A WSP traffic engineer told the city’s Traffic Authority during a meeting last month that he was concerned queuing vehicles would lead to an increase in accidents, the minutes show. The results of the traffic study and the engineer’s testimony led the Road Authority to unanimously deny the request.
TPZC member Paul Kaplan said the project’s expected traffic volume amounted to a 25 percent increase over current conditions, which he called “an awful lot with the (Traffic Authority) not really on board.”
Commissioner Judy Smith added: “I don’t think any of us want to create an unsafe situation up there.”
Zoning officials agreed that the travel center was an appropriate use for that location, but the anticipated volume of traffic would make it dangerous for motorists. “I still think that kind of use is appropriate, but maybe scale back a little bit based on the volume,” Smith said.
To help alleviate the initial traffic concerns, the applicant proposed to install a traffic signal on one of the driveways on Marsh Hill Road. If TPZC had approved the travel center application, project officials said they would have asked the state Department of Transportation to synchronize one of its lights near the Interstate 95 ramp with other city-maintained signals along Marsh Hill Road , in order to improve traffic flow. .
TPZC members considered conditional approval of the Marsh Hill Road application, similar to how they recently greenlighted a proposal for a recreational cannabis shop on Boston Post Road. The commission’s approval of the travel center would have been contingent on the DOT agreeing to coordinate its traffic lights, but in the end they decided to reject the proposal entirely.
austin.mirmina@hearstmediact.com
