TOP STORY: Old Lyme Pumps Brakes on New Gas Stations

The exterior of the renovated Chestnut Market at 85 Halls Rd. in Old Lyme as seen in a 2024 file photo.

OLD LYME–Gas stations will be officially excised from the local zoning regulations, effective Aug. 11. 

The Zoning Commission on Monday voted unanimously to amend the regulations to strike gas stations from the list of businesses that can operate in town. 

Land Use Coordinator Eric Knapp said that means the existing four gas stations in town will remain, but no more will be allowed.

Gas stations were previously confined to Halls Road and certain parts of Shore Road. 

Applications for new or improved gas stations are controversial in a town where residents have long objected to development that would entice drivers to get off Interstate 95 rather than continuing on to points north or south. 

There was no comment at Monday evening’s public hearing. 

The Planning Commission in a unanimous vote last month found the move consistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. The document, updated every 10 years, is meant to guide the community’s growth based on the vision of those who live there.

Author

Elizabeth started her journalism career in 2013 with the launch of The Salem Connect, a community news site inspired by digital trailblazers like Olwen Logan. Elizabeth’s earliest reporting included two major fires — one at a package store and another at a log cabin where she captured, on video, a state trooper fatally shooting the unarmed homeowner and suspected arsonist. The experiences gave her a crash course in public record searches, courthouse procedures and the Freedom of Information Act. She went on to report for The Bulletin, CT News Junkie, The Rivereast, and The Day, where she covered the Lymes and helped launch the Housing Solutions Lab on affordable housing. Her work has earned numerous awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists and the New England Newspaper & Press Association. Now, after more than a decade in digital, weekly, and daily journalism, she’s grateful to return to the place where it all started: an online news site dedicated to one small corner of Connecticut.