WILTON – The planning board found the Tractor Supply Company’s proposed building application complete and set a meeting to visit the site for 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 4. A public hearing on the proposal has been scheduled to follow the site visit at the town office.
Chris Kettler of DMK Development of Muskegon, Mich., presented to the board Thursday night his company’s plans for the 19,097 square foot store with an adjacent 15,000 square foot outdoor display area and a 95-space parking lot to be constructed on a 5.2 acre parcel with frontage on the south side of Route 2 across from the Bryant Road T-intersection.
The only change to the initial plan is to relocate the 28-foot wide driveway entrance to the east side of the building, rather than west of the proposed building. The reason for the change, said Paul Montague, the town’s code enforcement officer, was that the driveway would have been too close to an abutter’s driveway entrance. The new entrance, to be situated across from the Bryant Road intersection, will provide better sight clearance for traffic along the busy road as well.
Tractor Supply Company, one of the largest retail chains in the U.S., could open as soon as this fall and employ 12 to 15 people, if the building’s permits are granted by the planning board and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
Tractor Supply Company operates more than 800 stores in 40 states and carries feed, fencing, mowers, tools, work clothing and more for farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners and contractors, according to its Web site.
According to the developers, a store this size will employ between five and seven full-time employees and seven to eight part-time employees. Hours are 8-8 Monday-Saturday and 8 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Tractor Supply Company stores in Maine have been opened in Oxford, Augusta, Gorham and Skowhegan. Once the building permits are approved, a possible construction start date may be in late summer with a possible opening in the fall, said Keith Gray of Oak Engineers of Portland, which is developing the building’s plan.
