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September 10, 2024

Mixed-use development proposed on site of former burned plaza in Bristol

Contributed The proposed retail plaza in Bristol.
By David Krechevsky

A proposal to redevelop the site of a former retail plaza in Bristol that was destroyed by a fire in 2022 was submitted to the city Monday evening.

The Bristol Conservation Commission and Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency accepted the application submitted by Fairfield-based Gold Coast Properties LLC, which wants to redevelop the 0.62-acre site at 37 Main St. into a combination of retail space and residential housing. 

The application is before the commission and agency because a “contained water course runs along the north side of the property.” 

The location formerly was the site of Mafales Plaza, which was destroyed in a fire in February 2022. The fire displaced the businesses in the building — Crystal Diner, Vivaldi Pizza, Marty’s Package Store, Main Street Laundromat and the Dance Experience. The building was later demolished and the site left vacant, surrounded by a fence.

The proposal seeks to construct a four-story mixed-use building with a combined footprint of 7,035 square feet. According to documents submitted with the application, the building will consist of 3,083 square feet of retail space and 28 residential units, including a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. 

Attorney James Ziogas Jr., who represented the applicant during Monday’s meeting, said the plan will orient the new building differently from the one that burned down. Where the original building ran perpendicular to Main Street with the storefronts facing the parking lot, the new building will front on Main Street. 

Ziogas said that will reduce the distance from the building to the brook at the north end of the property, but won’t significantly impact the brook because the plan reduces the amount of impervious pavement from 100% to 60%.

The parking lot will include green areas and provide 21 off-street spaces to the rear of the building. Another six spaces will be available on the west side of Main Street, the application states.

“Additional parking will be available on the east side of Main Street,” the application continues, though it notes that those spaces will be developed “by others.” It adds that parking also will be available in the city’s public parking lot to the west of the site. That lot has 55 spaces.

The application also proposes replacing the existing city sidewalk and either replacing or reusing the existing granite curb on the east side of the property along Main Street. 

Commissioners raised concerns about the effect of the project on the brook, which is separated from the site by concrete retaining walls, and scheduled to walk the site on Sept. 23 at 5 p.m. It also scheduled a public hearing on the project for its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 7.

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