PHOTO COURTESY ANDREW HELLER
Berlin resident Jeff Smith hands former Town Administrator Laura Allen a petition with 710 signatures calling for a referendum on a previously approved annexation agreement for a proposed gas station and convenience store on Route 50 in Berlin.

By Rachel Ravina, Staff Writer

(Dec. 26, 2019) The annexation of a proposed gas station and convenience store on Route 50 experienced some pushback earlier this summer.

The agreement incorporated roughly six acres of land on Route 818 across from Berlin Main Place near its intersection with Route 50. Now called Athena Plaza, the parcel was previously zoned as C-2 Commercial in the county, but in Berlin, it was categorized as B-2 Shopping District.

The annexation involved several provisions, including receiving police and fire services, having the property owners take responsibility for trash pickup and paying for equivalent dwelling units and water usage.

The Berlin Planning Commission issued a favorable recommendation during a March 13 meeting.

During the May Town Council meeting, Councilman Zack Tyndall expressed his concerns with the traffic safety associated with the intersection as well as two possible entrance and exit lanes.

Attorney Regan Smith, who represented the interests of property owners Spiro and Mary Anne Buas, said they proposed having a right turn-only entrance and a main exit and entrance to match up with the nearby Berlin Main Place property. However, he told Tyndall the decision isn’t up to them.

“… That’s our intent but that’s going to depend on what state highway directs us to do,” Smith said.

The annexation passed on May 28 with a 4-1 vote by the Town Council. Tyndall dissented.

In the days following the vote, Berlin resident Jeff Smith circulated a petition calling for a referendum on the mayor and Town Council’s approval of the annexation agreement for the proposed gas station and convenience store off Route 50.

The petition needed signatures from 20 percent of the town’s registered voters to force the referendum, which comes out to 681 signatures of Berlin’s 3,407 registered voters. The petition was due within 45 days of the annexation approval.

Smith turned in the petition with 709 signatures on July 12 to officials at Town Hall.

“This really was a townwide effort,” Smith said. “… I made a very concerted effort of trying to hit at least in some part every neighborhood in town.”

Then-Town Administrator Laura Allen said that staff would then work to verify the submitted signatures against voter records from the Worcester County Board of Elections. That vetting found that 72 signatures did not pass muster, leaving the petition 43 signatures short of what its sponsors needed.

Nevertheless, Smith said he was pleased with his and others’ efforts.

“The point of the referendum, the point of the petition, was to start a conversation, and get that conversation out into the public eye and get people a chance … to start thinking about it and start talking about it,” Smith said. “And in that prospect, it’s been an overwhelming success.”