Tree Cutting on Halls Road Draws Scrutiny as Plaza Prepares Upgrades

OLD LYME, CT – The removal of several trees along Halls Road by the new owners of the Old Lyme Marketplace has sparked resident complaints and a call by local officials to restore the site’s original landscaping or come up with an acceptable plan. 

Land Use Coordinator Eric Knapp on Monday said he has fielded numerous questions from concerned residents about trees cut down last week on the grassy median between the Big Y parking lot and Halls Road. 

Nine stumps were visible on the right side of the main entrance this week. 

Knapp said the new owners are required to adhere to the 1989 landscaping plan approved by the Zoning Commission as part of a special permit application. 

The property was purchased in December by a development partnership consisting of Zelco Properties & Development, Grossman Development Group and The McDevitt Company. 

“They need to either make the site look like what it was supposed to look like under the plan, or if they’re not going to do that, they need to propose an alternative plan for the Zoning Commission to review,” he said. 

Knapp pointed to additional cutting behind the shopping center, though that area has drawn less attention.

In a Thursday email to project manager and Grossman Development Group Vice President Jamie Anderson, Knapp asked for more information about the landscaping plans for the visible area along Halls Road. The land use coordinator described the removal of multiple trees as a “significant public concern.” 

Anderson in his reply apologized for starting work before reaching out to local officials. He told Knapp additional pruning and the removal of two more dead trees had been “put on hold.” 

On Monday, Anderson in a phone interview reiterated his apology. 

“We’re new to the town. We made a mistake,” he said. 

Anderson emphasized he had not been made aware of the requirement to replace the trees and said the company would likely work with the town to modify the permit rather than replicate the decades-old plan exactly.

“I think we would have to try to figure out a middle ground here,” he said. “And maybe that’s planting trees in different locations, but maybe the same number. That sort of thing.”

Neither Knapp nor Anderson could say how the number or placement of trees at the time of the cutting compared to the original plan. Both acknowledged some of the felled trees were in areas that never required plantings in the first place.

“If there’s nothing in there originally, I can’t make them replant,” Knapp said of the 1989 plan. 

There appear to be 13 trees on the original plan in the affected area to the right of the main entrance, including eight Bradford pear trees, three red maples and two red oaks. 

The plan allowed for an area at the center of the section, roughly the length of three rows of parking spaces, with no plantings. 

First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker on Monday said she spoke with Anderson last week  after she heard trees had been cut. She told him to reach out to local officials in advance when undertaking projects to ensure the proper permits are in place and to give officials time to convey the information to residents. 

“It’s up to them to work it out with zoning,” she said. 

Anderson said he’ll take the first selectwoman’s advice going forward. 

“We would reach out to the town for any minor or major changes,” he said.  

Knapp on Monday said he was still waiting to hear from the owners on how to proceed. 

“At this point, the ball is in their court,” he said. 

He added that the commission can reject any proposed changes to the special permit. 

“The Zoning Commission is within its rights to say, ‘This is what we approved. This is what you have to live with,’” he said. 

Halls Road, a three-quarter-mile stretch between two Interstate 95 interchanges, is the site of a decade-long effort to transform a series of mid-1900s strip malls into a 21st-century town center. A proposed Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) that would have allowed apartments in the commercial zone was rejected last year, and a planned pedestrian bridge over the Lieutenant River remains stalled.

The owners of the plaza have signaled their intent to revitalize the aging shopping center by bringing in new tenants to join anchor businesses including the Big Y grocery store, Grand Wine & Spirits, Snap Fitness and The Bowerbird gift shop.

Walgreens Pharmacy moved out in late January. Nagy Wassef, an Old Lyme resident who owns the Medicine Shoppe in Old Saybrook, is set to open another pharmacy location in the space between the vacant Walgreens and Big Y.

Anderson said “two or three great leads” for new plaza tenants recently fell through, though one is back on the table. He declined to name the businesses while negotiations are ongoing. 

The owners are planning facade upgrades, new signage on the canopy over the storefronts and landscaping enhancements as they continue to seek new tenants, according to Anderson. 

“We’re not here to make enemies of the town,” he said.