The owner of a recently vacated commercial space on Pine Street is seeking permission to use it as a drop-off for dry cleaning and tailoring services.
Maddie’s, a burger and sandwich shop at 78 Pine St., closed in December after 18 months in business.
According to a site plan application submitted to Planning & Zoning, property owner Moon Chun will not place dry cleaning machines in the new space. (Family business Sanda’s Cleaners already occupies the eastern half of the building, though the application doesn’t specify whether or how the new business will work with the existing one.)
Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, businesses in the Business A zone follow the same rules for non-office use as the Business B zone. Site plan approval is required for a change of use for “specialty retail shops” as well as for “[l]aundries or dry cleaners, provided chemical dry cleaning is done off premises” (see pages 82 and 85 here).
Chun said in the application: “The space will be open to the public for retail use. There is plentiful on-site parking to assist customers for their special-purpose trips to drop off their bulky items for cleaning which falls into the spirit of the Business A Zone. This will not change the intensity of the use or parking requirements at the site and in fact will actually be less than that of the previous tenants. The proposed use will create less foot and car traffic with a stable, long history tenant.”
The Planning & Zoning Commission is scheduled to take up the application at its regular meeting Tuesday night.