P&Z Reviews Revised Tilson Woods Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are reviewing heavily revised development plans for Tilson Woods, a 41-lot residential subdivision proposed for Sandy Hook.

P&Z members opened a public hearing on the application October 21, but after receiving the revised plans opted to have town land use staff members review the revisions and report back, after which the public hearing will resume.

Tilson Financial, LLC proposes home construction on a long, narrow 61-acre strip of land along the north side of Interstate-84, extending eastward from Washington Avenue to Philo Curtis Road.

Although almost all of the 61-acre site lies within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), the development project is not subject to the new, tougher aquifer protection regulations approved by the P&Z in June. The applicant submitted simultaneous applications to the P&Z and Conservation Commission just before the new aquifer regulations took effect. Tilson Woods already has gained Conservation Commission approval for the project.

Most of the land in the proposed subdivision has one-acre residential zoning and some land has half-acre residential zoning. The new aquifer protection regulations have a provision which requires that new single-family houses built in the APD be on at least two-acre lots, a requirement which would have cut in half the number of lots allowed in the proposed Tilson Woods.

When a development proposal requires substantial changes, the P&Z often asks the developer to withdraw his plans and submit new plans in the form of a new application. In the case of Tilson Woods, however, withdrawing the plans and submitting a new application would mean the new application would be subject to the town’s new, tougher aquifer protection regulations, resulting in the number of lots allowed on the site being cut in half.

In most cases, an applicant does not have as much at stake as Tilson Financial does with its revised development application, according to Elizabeth Stocker, the P&Z’s planning aide.

In an October 21 letter to the P&Z, attorney William Hennessey, Jr, representing Tilson, writes that modifications to the development plan suggested by town land use staff members have been incorporated into the revised plans.

The changes involve mapping, zone lines, an easement for a road turnaround, drainage easements, a right of way, a catch basin, the location of a road, slope changes, footing drains, a driveway relocation, storm water detention basins, earthen cuts and fills, the placement of a fire water tank, sanitary testing, open space, the renaming of a road, drainage provisions and increases in lot sizes.

   At the recommendation of the Conservation Commission, three open space parcels proposed for the site are now planned to be connected via trails, according to Mr Hennessey. “It will form a contiguous and connected loop system offering potential for a trail system within the subdivision,” he wrote.

  The subdivision would contain 5,100 feet of new roadway in the form of three roads – Tilson Lane, Charlie’s Circle and Pearl Street. The development would provide a direct road link – Pearl Street – between 29 Washington Avenue and Philo Curtis Road.

In a September 15 letter to the town, nearby resident Theresa Berryman expressed safety concerns about the ability of Route 34 to handle the additional traffic that would be generated by the development.

The development site abuts Treadwell Park. A portion of the open space in the development would abut the park, near the swimming pool and basketball court.