This is from the web site CantonCare.org

This group formed after the town started the development process of a golf course along Route 44 that became the "Life Style" center......for Canton. The Canton Care group has become a watchdog for further growth in town.

This excerpt from their website (it is quite extensive and gives some interesting insights into what citizen groups can do!) details the goings on while the project was going through the approvals back in 2003 and 2004.

The most important lesson from this is how it started out to be a "quaint village of shops" but box stores and a Shaws crept in to make it "viable". In other words, you have to have a lot of other stores around the "high end" stores to attract the critical mass of shoppers to make the place "viable".

Cheshire beware.





“Shoppes” developer asks again; Zoning Commission reverses vote. When developers of The Shoppes at Farmington Valley, under construction at the former Canton Golf Course, asked the Zoning Commission this January for approval to expand the shopping center by 15.6%, they were answered with a firm 6-1 denial. Three weeks later, the developer reapplied, seeking a 15.3% expansion. This time, the commission gave a resounding 6-1 approval.



In Jan. 2004, the Zoning Commission denied the request to expand The Shoppes by 49,435 q. ft. to accommodate Dick’s Sporting Goods. The developer re-applied on Feb. 13, asking to add 48,565 sq. ft. and divide the complex’s easternmost building into two buildings. The decision from the Commission on March 2 was “yes.”



The approval increased the shopping center from the original 350,000 sq. ft., and a subsequently approved 372,000, to 429,000 sq. ft. (an overall 22% increase.) Nearby Simsbury Commons, including Stop & Shop and Walgreen’s, is 290,000 sq. ft.



The developer asked the Zoning Commission to “rush” the hearing, Town Planner Sarajane Pickett informed commissioners at a Feb. 19 meeting. Commission Chairman Chris Winsor told commissioners they "should react to" the applicant’s request, and that the circumstances for the request would be made known during the hearing.



The developers of The Shoppes at Farmington Valley are Timothy Ellsworth of Simsbury and S.R. Weiner & Associates affiliate W/S Development Associates of Massachusetts. The project's land planner is Philip Doyle, Canton resident and member of Canton’s Board of Finance, whose business LADA, P.C. is located in Simsbury.



S.R. Weiner Vice President of Development Bob Frazier told Commissioners on March 2 that the developer is under immediate time and financial deadlines in order to finish the complex according to its desired schedule. He said the firm is committed to completing the project, with or without this approval, and that the widespread belief among town residents that the firm had threatened to leave the project incomplete if not given this approval is not the case.



At the Jan. 29 meeting where the Zoning Commission first rejected this request, commission Chairman Chris Winsor, who voted to approve the application, said “it was regrettable” that a prior Zoning Commission approval authorized a change to the west end of the project, resulting in a loss of the original approval’s village-style design at that end. He said the applicant now says the increase in square footage is needed “to provide vitality” at the east end. “I think that’s probably a correct statement,” he added.



Other commissioners said on Jan. 29 the requested increase was too big and that it would stray from the original intent of a pedestrian-friendly complex:

-- Sandra Trionfini said developers had assured the commission that the project would not get “mammoth.” Now, she said, “All bets are off; anything can happen. At what point do we say, ‘No more’?”

-- Harvey Jassem said the development already has the two anchors that the applicant sought, and that the commission is not obligated to enlarge space for a third.

-- Jay Weintraub asked, “If this project had been proposed to us on day one as it is proposed tonight, would we have approved it? … For me, I don’t think I would have approved it.”

-- Kathy Hooker said the proposal was not in keeping with the town’s master plan policy regarding town character, and that she was uncomfortable adding more space, especially for use by one large tenant.

-- Leesa Lawson said, “I feel we’ve modified the integrity out of this project,” and added that she believes the project will be viable without the addition.

-- Peter Clarke said that based on the number of tenants who have signed leases, tenants “don’t appear to be concerned that it’s not going to work.”



On March 2, however, Commissioners had different opinions about the new application:

-- Chris Winsor said it met the regulation’s requirements, and he complimented the developer for improving the design.

-- Sandra Trionfini said that, while prior changes may have steered the design away from the original intent, this request seemed to be a natural progression

-- Jay Weintraub said the first application seemed to be just a long building with too big a mass, but that dividing the building and lowering the facade made the appearance conform with the rest of the project.

-- Kathy Hooker said that the buildings in the project “are all big boxes” and that the addition “isn’t really going to be noticeable. It’s big already.”

-- Leesa Lawson, the one commissioner to vote no, said the application had “come a long way” in its design but that without a significantly smaller size request it was too much like the recently-denied proposal. “We were adamant in January that this was a significant size. Why would this be different?”

-- Alternate member Tom Chouinard said the expansion would not be very noticeable.

-- Alternate member Mark Podesla said the applicant had made an effort to improve the plan and the size request was acceptable to him.

-- Glenn Barger, who Chairman Winsor chose to sit out the vote, although Mr. Barger has more seniority on the commission than Mr. Podesla, cautioned that 5 or 10 years down the road, keeping buildings of this size occupied could be a concern.

-- Commissioners Harvey Jassem and Peter Clarke were unable to attend the March 2 hearing. Mr. Jassem had asked Chairman Winsor to hold the hearing one day later so that he could attend, but Mr. Winsor insisted that the hearing be held on the 2nd.



Background information:

In 1989, the town declined an offer to purchase the golf course. The course was rezoned in 1998 at Mr. Ellsworth’s request, from Agricultural/Residential to Special Business. Mr. Ellsworth told the Zoning Commission he planned to build an athletic training complex called The Peak Experience. Mr. Ellsworth subsequently stated he was unable to obtain financing. Once rezoned, the 130-acre course remained rezoned. The SB zone allows a wide array of uses. On March 31, 2003, course owners the Lowell family sold the property to the developer for $4.77 million.



C.A.R.E., which formed after the course was rezoned, regrets the town’s failure to buy the parcel and the choice to rezone it. But given this set of circumstances, C.A.R.E. was pleased by the developer’s stated intention to attempt a walkable project, of only one quarter the size that regulations would allow, of multiple uses, and to actively recruit locally-owned tenants. The developer’s multiple alterations, however, have radically altered the project to one that is at odds with the promised development and incompatible with the town of Canton.



The site plan initially approved by Zoning included a west anchor store (Kohl's, now under construction) and an east anchor store. Multiple smaller, individual buildings would have lined both sides of a street connecting the two anchors. As part of the original approval, the applicant stated an intent to create a “pedestrian-friendly” development. No tenant had yet been identified for the east anchor, but the applicant stated that a specialty foods store would be sought for that site. In 2003, the developer received Zoning approval to combine several buildings into one 83,000 sq. ft. building (next to Kohl's). The developer has since announced that Shaw's, the northeast’s second largest grocery chain, will occupy this building.



The originally approved application called for mixed uses, including retail, restaurant, office and an executive training golf course. W/S Development now says it has determined that an executive golf course will not be profitable and is instead weighing other possible recreational uses, such as batting cages or miniature