By Susan Misur, Register Staff

NORTH BRANFORD — Construction on a new Northford Store may begin in as little as a few weeks, even though owner Nick Demos is appealing a town approval that supports a new building, but not a drive-through lane.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved Demos’ latest design last month with the condition that the highly debated drive-through lane and window — which would be used to serve coffee — not be built at 1405 Middletown Ave. Town Planner Carol Zebb said commission members are concerned the drive-through would increase traffic congestion.

Demos has fought for the drive-through lane in each of many designs presented to the commission since the store burned down in March 2008, claiming it would allow him to compete with other stores and coffee shops.

As planned, the store will have a deli and offer produce and prepared foods, but the coffee shop will be an integral part of the operation, Demos said.

Demos and attorney Timothy Lee of Fasano, Ippolito and Lee in New Haven, will soon file the appeal in Superior Court. Demos hopes the court grants his appeal so he can later add the drive-through lane.

“He (Demos) wants the drive-through. And the application complied with zoning regulations, so he’s entitled to have it,” Lee said. “The town admitted it complied with the regulations.”

Town Manager Richard Branigan said Demos has the legal right to appeal any application that’s approved or denied.

This is the second appeal Demos and Lee will file in connection with the PZC’s approval process. The first appeal argues that the commission violated Demos’ right to due process at a December meeting when it revoked, without telling Demos, a 2008 approval to rebuild the store.

PZC members said they revoked it because they had been reviewing Demos’ new application for a smaller building. They realized the town has the right-of-way on land used by the drive-through proposals shown in the 2008 plans and the application they were reviewing in December. The 2008 application never should have been approved, Zebb said.

The plans most recently approved by the PZC are for a grocery store with a small coffee area and second-floor apartments. Demos also had submitted reports of traffic studies, which were conducted by Traffic Engineering Solutions of Glastonbury and the Police Department, and said the drive-through would not affect traffic. Continued...

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“I still do not understand how a project that ‘meets all zoning requirements as a condition of approval’ and was previously approved on a larger scale can have a component omitted without expert reasoning,” Demos said, adding that the store should be completed by midsummer.

Michael J. DiGioia, vice president of DonMar Development Corp. in North Haven, said his company is “fast-tracking the design and construction of the new Northford Store.”

Contact Susan Misur at 203-789-5742 or smisur@newhavenregister.com.

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