Update 1/5/18 – The planning and zoning commission this week approved Clisham’s application to build a 60,000-square-foot self-storage facility on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike. Commissioners Robert Hammersley and Dagmara Scalise opposed the project, according to the source.

“I don’t think that it’s a proper place. I don’t think it’s the best use of that property,” said Hammersley, who’d prefer to see a retail or office project built on the site. He added that self-storage facilities are better suited for industrial areas.

Commission chairman Michael DelSanto, however, said the area needs more storage and the proposal fit well with the community. “This business going there is a clean business. The look was good, the use was appropriate,” he said.

Although there has been some development along Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike, it hasn’t been “as much as we’d like,” DelSanto said. Business growth has slowed since the collapse of a development retail project that would’ve attracted businesses along Connecticut Route 322. “That hurt a lot of the chances on 322,” he added.

3/17/17 – Self-storage owner J.R. Clisham has a former farmland under contract in Southington, Conn., on which he intends to build a CT Self Stor facility. Clisham has submitted preparation plans for a 4-acre parcel at 1588 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike. The site is owned by the Superior Network of Cos., a family-owned business specializing in construction equipment, products and services, according to the source.

The site was also formerly a nursery and landscaping business. Though it includes a 5,500-square-foot building constructed in 1940, Clisham wants to clear, grade and fill the property. The prep work includes the installation of drains, the source reported.

Superior’s headquarters is just east of the property, and several of the company’s divisions operate in the area. Though Superior was holding the proposed self-storage site for future expansion and didn’t list it on the market, it accepted Clisham’s purchase offer contingent on the project’s approval, according to the source.

The project must be approved by the conservation commission, which will hold a meeting at the property on March 16. The commission sometimes holds meetings onsite to understand how wetlands are impacted by development, vice chairman James Sullivan told the source. A stream runs along the back of the property. “It’s hard on a map to see exactly what we’re dealing with,” Sullivan said.

CT Self Stor operates four self-storage facilities in Connecticut.

Sources:
My Record Journal, Storage Facility Proposed on Former Farmland in Southington
My Record Journal: Southington PZC Approves Self-Storage Facility for Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike