Town of Newtown, CT SECTION 3 General Business Zone (B-2)

4.03.100 Purpose and intent.

The purpose of the B-2 General Business Zone is to encourage a diversity in commercial activities that contribute to health and wellbeing of the community.

The intent of the B-2 General Business Zone Regulations is to encourage development consistent with the capacity of the lot on which it is located and the infrastructure to support it.

4.03.200 Permitted uses.

4.03.210 One or more of the following principal uses are permitted within a single building upon a lot subject to the criteria set forth herein and provided that site development plan approval has been granted in accordance with Article X hereof, if so required. Uses that are not listed shall not be permitted by variance.

4.03.211 Uses in other zones. All uses permitted in the B-1 Retail Business Zone. If a special exception is required in said B-1 Zone, it is also required for the B-2 Zone unless otherwise stated herein.

4.03.212 Publishing and printing establishments.

[Effective 6-21-1999]

4.03.213 Hotel or motel.

4.03.214 Public passenger terminal (other than airline).

4.03.215 Restaurant whether or not selling alcoholic beverages. (See Article VIII, Section 12, for restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages.)

4.03.216 Salesroom for the display and sale of new automobiles, farm equipment, trucks and motorcycles.

4.03.217 Place of religious worship.

[Effective 9-7-1991]

4.03.218 Store or shop for the conduct of wholesale business. The maximum gross floor area shall be limited to 40,000 square feet.

[Effective 8-12-1996]

4.03.219 Bed and breakfast.

4.03.300 Special exception uses.

4.03.310 One or more of the following additional principal uses and larger building sizes are permitted subject to obtaining a special exception approval from the Commission in accordance with the standards, criteria, conditions and procedures set forth in Article XI hereof, and the additional standards and criteria set forth herein. If a special exception is required in said B-1 Zone, it is also required for the B-2 Zone unless otherwise stated herein.

4.03.311 Uses in other zones. All uses permitted in the B-1 Retail Business Zone.

4.03.312 Bowling alley.

4.03.313 Indoor theater.

4.03.314 Laundromat, dry-cleaning or laundry establishment.

4.03.315 Warehouse.

(a) Special exceptions shall require a 100-foot setback from the outermost perimeter of impervious surface from adjacent residential property, including a 50-foot natural or planted buffer.

(b) Special exception applications shall require a traffic impact analysis in compliance with Section 595-4.03.210.

(c) If storage is to be provided outdoors, for principal or accessory uses, a planted or natural buffer shall be provided between the items stored and the lot lines.

4.03.316 Operating a kennel, one per lot.

4.03.317 

Public garage and/or filling station.

1. A public garage or filling station except within the Aquifer Protection District provided the following criteria are satisfied:

(a) One use per lot as described herein;

(b) Any special exception granted hereunder shall be contingent upon the applicant subsequently obtaining a certificate of approval of location from the Zoning Board of Appeals pursuant to the relevant motor vehicle laws of the State of Connecticut;

(c) No gasoline filling station or public garage shall have any entrance or exit on a street within a distance of 300 feet of any public park, playground, school, church, library, theater, hospital or other public garage or filling station located on either side of said street or on an intersecting street within 300 feet measured along the street lines from said entrance or exit.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

(d) No existing filling station or public garage or one which subsequently becomes permitted pursuant to this section, shall be deemed to become nonconforming through the subsequent erection of one of the buildings listed under the second bullet point in this section above within less than 300 feet of said entrance or exit.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

(e) No gasoline pump or other device used for the dispensing of flammable liquids shall be located within any building setback line.

2. Any filling station, whether or not operated in conjunction with a public garage or one that is permitted by this section may be used as a combination filling station and convenience store provided:

[Added effective 3-31-2014]

(a) The square footage of the building or other structure devoted to the combined filling station, food service and convenience store use does not exceed 3,500 square feet.

(b) Adequate parking is provided for the store in accordance with Article VIII, Section 3, for a retail business.

(c) Groceries, hot and cold sandwiches, salads and other food products are sold for use or consumption only off the premises; no space is provided on the premises or in the building for tables, counters or other facilities designed to be used for eating. Food service will be limited to a Class III Food Establishment as defined by the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health.

(d) Food products shall be defined as edible commodities and meals, whether processed, raw, cooked, canned, or in any other form.

(e) Restaurants as defined in the Newtown Zoning Regulations shall not be allowed.

(f) The filling station and convenience store portions of the building can be operated by separate businesses.

(g) Drive through pick up windows shall not be allowed.

(h) Doors providing public access to the convenience store shall not enter upon a yard in which gas pumps are located unless the distance between the wall containing said door and the edge of the gas pump island facing said wall is not less than 20 feet at the nearest point.

(i) Sections 595-4.02.210 and 595-4.02.221 of the Newtown Zoning Regulations shall not apply to the operation of a public garage, it being the intent of this Regulation that no more than two separate businesses shall be permitted per lot.

(j) Persons operating the gas pumps or otherwise servicing motor vehicles shall not prepare, sell or dispense any food products in the convenience store portion of the premises, provided however, nothing shall prohibit a cashier from acting as a filling station cashier, convenience store cashier and/or food service cashier.

(k) Any existing filling station or combination filling station and convenience store or one subsequently permitted by this section may include a car wash with a special exception in compliance with Section 595-4.03.318, Newtown Zoning Regulations.

4.03.318 A car wash except within the Aquifer Protection District, one per lot.

(a) Any special exception granted hereunder for a car wash shall be contingent on the applicant obtaining and maintaining in force a discharge permit if required from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection.

(b) No special exception for a car wash shall be approved unless all discharges are connected to a municipal sanitary sewer line or the car wash system is designed so that the water used in all of the wash and rinse functions is recyclable and there shall be no discharge from the car washing equipment. Any solids or waste waters which cannot be recycled shall be held and removed from the premises by a waste hauler licensed in Connecticut for this purpose.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

(c) No car wash shall have any entrance or exit from or to a street within a distance of 300 feet of any public park, playground, school, church, library, theater, or hospital.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

(d) No existing car wash, or one which subsequently becomes permitted pursuant to this section, shall be deemed to become nonconforming through the subsequent erection of one of the buildings listed in the third bullet point of this section above within less than 300 feet of said entrance or exit.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

(e) In addition to the requirements of Article XI, any applicant for a car wash shall submit details of the facility, including, but not limited to, specifications for its water usage, water discharge or recycling capability, waste containment and drainage. The applicant shall also submit a certified statement from a licensed professional engineer regarding the system's compliance with the second bullet point of this section.

[Effective 10-26-1992]

4.03.319 A shopping center.

(a) The minimum area of a lot containing a shopping center shall be 10 acres.

(b) Such lot need not have street frontage provided that.

(c) It is served by a strip of land 100 feet wide.

(d) The lot line closest to the street is at least twice the distance from the street line as the required minimum lot width in the zone in which the land fronting on the street is located, and

(e) A buffer is provided along the strip of land and between the shopping center lot and the rear yards of the land having street frontage, where required by the Commission.

(f) More than one detached building may be placed on the lot. Buildings and parking areas shall be arranged in such a way as to promote the orderly and safe flow of traffic within the shopping center and promote the convenience and safety of pedestrians therein.

(g) All buildings within a shopping center shall be in harmony with each other as to architectural design and exterior surface.

(h) The maximum gross floor area allowed for any single retail store or shop located within a shopping center shall be limited to 40,000 square feet.

[Effective 8-12-1996]

(i) In addition to the uses which are permitted in a business building per Section 595-4.02.314, a shopping center may contain the uses permitted by Sections 595-4.03.212 through 595-4.03.215, and 595-4.03.312 through 595-4.03.314.

[Amended effective 5-12-2003]

(j) The requirements of Article VII hereof shall otherwise be met except that the Commission may require wider buffers, wider side or rear yards and a deeper building setback than are otherwise required where needed to screen adequately adjacent residential zones, or meet the standards set forth in Article XI, provided that structural coverage, including parking and loading areas, is not required to be reduced to less than 60% of lot area.

(k) If the proposed shopping center has frontage on a street then the wall of any building running in the same general direction as the street shall not be longer than 200 feet or twice the distance which it is set back from the street line, whichever is greater.

(l) All uses permitted in the B-1 Retail Business Zone. If a special exception is required in said B-1 Zone, it is also required for the B-2 Zone unless otherwise stated herein.

[Added 10-15-2010]

4.03.400 Accessory uses.

Article IV, Section 4, Accessory Uses in Business Zones, shall apply.

4.03.500 Site and building standards in business zones.

Article IV, Section 5, Site and Building Design Standards in Business Zones, shall apply.

4.03.600 Area, height and yard requirements.

Article VII, Area, Height and Yard Requirements, and all other applicable sections of these regulations apply.

4.03.700 Supplemental regulations.

Article VIII, Supplemental Regulations, including, but not limited to, signs, access management, parking, landscaping, lighting and all other applicable sections of these regulations apply.