Neighboring business owners voice opposition

By Wiley Wood

Business owners were concerned about the effect on parking, including Michael Dinsmore, above.

Since the Corner Store closed two years ago, Norfolk residents have had to travel 20 minutes to a neighboring town to buy a quart of milk, a bag of charcoal, or a tube of toothpaste. But on Tuesday, May 24, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing on a plan to convert 6 Station Place, the old hardware store, into a convenience store and deli.

The operator would be Ryan Craig, of Goshen, who ran the Berkshire Country Store in West Cornwall until it closed last November. Craig had considered re-opening his store in Norfolk, but the deal fell through in January 2016. He has since reconsidered.

“We will offer a variety of grocery items such as milk, eggs, bread, detergents and newspapers,” Craig wrote in his application, and “take-out food such as sandwiches, pastries, coffee, candy, soda, potato chips, juice and water.”

Plans call for a customer seating area with Wi-Fi service, restrooms, a commercial kitchen, a walk-in cooler and freezer, a deli display case and a 16-flavor ice cream dipping cabinet.

“It’s very promising that we’re going to have a convenience/deli operation in town,” said Bill Brown of the Economic Development Commission at a May 12 meeting.

As part of its lease agreement with the building’s owners, Berkshire Country Store will pay for renovations. Brown is soliciting lenders to the store for the build-up. “We’re looking right now for increments of $10,000,” says Brown. “We’ve had some success, but we’re looking for additional lenders.”

Construction is expected to take two to three months and cost around $100,000, Craig said at the public hearing.

The building, which belonged to Gary Schroen of West Hill Properties LLC, was sold on May 20 to Norfolk Foundation, a private nonprofit. The group will lease its 3200-square-foot premises to Craig.

At the hearing, neighboring property owners and business operators voiced opposition to the plan.

Tom McDermott, an attorney for Joseph Stannard, argued against the application.

“Parking is a major, major concern,” said Michael Dinsmore, chef-owner of the Wood Creek Bar & Grill. He painted the extreme difficulty of keeping a business solvent in Norfolk and worried that the extra demand for parking in Station Place would affect his business. He also anticipated that delivery trucks would idle in front of his restaurant, pumping diesel fumes into his outdoor dining patio.

The placement of exhaust fans, garbage bins and propane tanks also concerned nearby residents. A lawyer for Joseph Stannard, owner of 8 Station Place, argued that the application could not be approved because it did not explicitly address these concerns.

Ryan Craig expressed a willingness to work with local stakeholders to find reasonable solutions.

Planning and Zoning Chairman Michele Sloane adjourned the hearing with a decision to continue deliberations at the commission’s next meeting on June 14.

Photos by Bruce Frisch. The proposed owner and operator of the new store, Ryan Craig, presents his application to the Norfolk Planning and Zoning Commission, top.