MADISON — After three years, numerous meetings and public hearings, Madison Prime, got its final approval.
The upscale steakhouse is on the site of the shuttered Madison Winter Club, which restaurateur Francesco Lulaj bought for nearly $1.2 million in 2023 after the dining and social club closed in 2021. Lulaj owns the popular La Forresta Restaurant in Killingworth.
The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved amended site plans at the recent meeting.
While the steakhouse was nearly done, on March 20 the PZC required Lulaj to come back with a revised site plan, as the completed work differed from the original approved site plan approved in 2023, according to the commission.
Some of the alterations came at the behest of the Department of Transportation, which has a right of way on the property and due to needs for the septic system, a representative for the owner told the PZC.
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The PZC listed 16 conditions and questions at their March 20 meeting. These included queries about the number of trees to be planted, lighting, an increase in the impervious area in the parking lot from what was approved, final number of parking spaces, plus an updated traffic flow plan.
Lulaj met all the commissioners’ criteria, town planner Erin Mannix said Thursday.
“I think, a lot of the items that were listed in my staff report from the last time have been addressed,” she told the commission.
The approval came after a lengthy discussion on the number of trees on the site plan when PZC members couldn’t agree on their count of the trees, from 15 to 20. Some asked for new drawings.
PZC commission member Janet Peckinpaugh urged fellow board members to make a decision.
“We'd all like to see it open,” she said. “I just wonder if we can help move it along instead of keep going back for more drawings and things and counting trees. And I know these things have to be done, but this has been going on for a long time and I feel that he's had so much trouble with the state…he's there working every day.”
Peckinpaugh added to him, “It's incredible how much work you've done.”
One neighbor, Ann Marie Straka, had complained that the pole lights were too bright but she said Lulaj installing lower temperature lighting and shields made improved it.
“(It's) not that glaring bright white light," she told the commission. "So, I do see a difference there.”
After the meeting, Lulaj said it’s been a long wait to get the green light from the town. He said he is aiming to open the restaurant sometime after Mother’s Day.
“I've been waiting for this for three years now,” he said. “But to be honest, if I knew from the beginning that this was going to take this much time and effort and money and stress and a lot of nonsense. I will never, ever start this process.”
Lulaj said he has spent more than $300,000 on legal fees and more than $4 million to date on the entire project.
His application wound its way through the Planning and Zoning process starting in 2022, which was denied. He was told he would need to seek a zone change. He got approval for a Planned Development District and his site plan in 2023.
“It's so stressful," he said, adding it has dampered the experience.
Lulaj said he is cheered that residents have supported him “99.9%” and he thinks the end result will make it all worth it.
“My goal was to build the most beautiful place in Shoreline and one of the most good-looking places in the state of Connecticut," he said. "I think I have achieved that.”