Norwich ― Hiking through farm fields, along rutted gravel paths and through a soft sand bank, members of the city’s planning commission and about a dozen residents got a closeup look Tuesday of the property proposed for a second business park.

The Commission on the City Plan will continue its public hearing started last month on Tuesday, Dec. 19 on an application for a 12-lot commercial subdivision proposed by the Norwich Community Development Corp.

NCDC purchased the 384-acre site in Occum, which is zoned for commercial and planned development, a year ago and plans to develop it as the Occum Industrial Center.

Led by project engineer Jeff Bord of Bohler Engineering, participants on Tuesday’s walk were guided along portions of the planned 7,700-foot-long access road, to be built from Route 97 near Exit 18 of Interstate 395 into the property. The road, to be built using an $11.3 million state grant, runs roughly parallel to the highway before curving to the north and dipping south, with commercial development lots laid out on either side.

During the 90-minute walk, members of the commission and the public who were carrying maps were not allowed to ask questions of Bord or city Director of Planning Deanna Rhodes, other than getting help with where they were on the site. The hearing is scheduled to continue at 7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, when residents can comment on the plan and ask questions based on the walk.

The walk started off Canterbury Turnpike, where the access road would intersect with a proposed roundabout. Walkers first hiked eastward through a vast farm field of the former Tarryk Farm. Wooden stakes set out at regular intervals mark the center of the planned road, Bord said.

Residents have been critical of NCDC’s proposed industrial park, saying it represents excessive development in the rural, residential area. Homes could be seen in a few spots along the walk, including along Canterbury Turnpike. A glimpse of the Sunny Waters Mobile Home Park could be seen from the former Tarryk Farm.

For safety and time reasons, the walk officially ended without reaching the western terminus of the proposed roadway, which would have required traversing steep slopes and wet areas. Rhodes invited commission members to drive to Lawler Lane and park at the former Doolittle farmhouse, now part of the industrial park property, to view the area.

NCDC has revised the roadway and development plan in the Lawler Lane area, ending the road before it would cross Lawler Lane and proposing to turn over a 25-acre parcel to the city or to a land conservancy group as permanent open space. The city Inland Wetlands, Watercourses and Conservation Commission approved the revised roadway plan last week.

c.bessette@theday.com