Zone Change Brings More Highway Industrial to Stafford
- 1 day ago
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Back In January, Stafford Free Press reported that Lee Collins of Wales, Mass., was considering buying four parcels on Rock Ledge Road to bring his business, Collins & Sons Excavating, to the site. There was just one problem; while the properties have been operating as a contractor’s yard for decades, technically the zoning does not allow for it. The existing non-conforming use preceded the creation of today’s zoning regulations, according to the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC). Understandably, Collins wanted to be sure he could continue to use the site as a contractor’s yard.
More recently, at the March 5, 2025 PZC meeting, the issue was back in the form of a public hearing about a zone change for 1-4 Rock Ledge Road, and 121 West Stafford Road, where Stafford Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram is located. The application to change the zoning from Highway Business to Highway Industrial came from the current owner of the Rock Ledge properties, Rock Ledge Land LLC of Somers.
Back in January, commissioner Ron Houle asked if his fellow commissioners were worried about being accused of spot zoning, “when a piece of property or groups of property have special zoning laws applied to them that differ from the zoning laws surrounding them.” At the most recent meeting, Attorney Wendell Avery argued that because of the size of the parcel, about 10 acres, and the fact that it impacts two property owners, and multiple parcels, the change was not spot zoning.
Up until Thursday night, when the PZC eventually voted unanimously to grant the zone change, Stafford’s only Highway Industrial Zone was the area around Middle River Drive, and Route 190, in the vicinity of Aubuchon Hardware and the Country Village Shops. PZC Chair Dave Palmberg said the requested change was in line with the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), which reads, “The town should support extending the sewer line to the intersection of routes 190 and 30. The commercial subdivision to the north of the Boles car dealership could then be built out, supplying the town with more industrial growth.”
Water and sewers came up quite a bit during the public comment section of the hearing. Diane Andreoli, who lives in a neighboring property on West Stafford Road, expressed concern that industrial development on the land could impact her water supply. The word “industrial” seemed to be the main cause for concern as it conjures visions of factories, but commissioner Richard Shuck listed the few uses that HIghway Industrial Zones allow above and beyond what the current Highway Business Zone allows: rental cars, outdoor storage, fuel storage, contractor’s yard, indoor salvage operations, and cannabis cultivation.
Shuck also noted that the Town’s regulations that allow existing non-conforming uses to expand would allow for the continued and expanded use of the land as a contractor’s yard. What exactly that means, however, would be up to the interpretation of the commission. By changing the zone to conform to the long established use of the plots, it would define more clearly what can and cannot be done on the land.