TRUMBULL — A proposed Lowe's home improvement center is being cast by opponents as a "monster development."
About 50 residents were on hand Tuesday for an Inland Wetlands Commission hearing on the application for Monroe Turnpike. Many were there because an anonymous flier placed in their mailboxes the previous day raised their interest.
An engineer for the Lowe's development said the project calls for replacing an existing quarter-acre of wetlands — about 40 percent of which is already piped away — with a half-acre of new wetlands habitat on state and town property.
Included in those plans is the restoration of a riparian buffer zone along the Pequonnock River, and a storm water management plan that will treat the water that runs off the site.
No decision on a requested permit to fill wetlands had been made by the commission at press time.
"Help Save Trumbull from this monster development," the flier reads, claiming the 138,000-square-foot building will devalue housing prices, increase traffic and destroy wetlands.
There is an e-mail address — nolowes@yahoo.com — to contact for further information.
One woman leaving the meeting with several neighbors she said they weren't on either side of the fence, but came to hear about the proposal after finding the flier in their mailbox.
Sound Development Group and its principal, Phillip DeGennaro, also need to secure a special permit from Planning and Zoning to build the home center on 11.5 acres.
Chris and Toni Braca, founders of Citizens to Preserve Trumbull, said their group is not behind the opposition to the store.
In fact, the Bracas said, their group supports the proposal, which they said will "add much needed tax revenue after two years of grand list reductions in the town of Trumbull."
The proposed development is bordered by a tennis club, state property, office buildings, a liquor store, and several houses.
It is across the street from a 17.9-acre site owned by Peter and Leonard DiNardo, once slated for a shopping center that never materialized.
Last year the DiNardos sought, but did not receive, zoning approval for a 112-unit condominium complex on the property.
Genevieve Reilly, who covers Trumbull, can be reached at 330-6256.
