Newtown Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) continued the public hearing for an application proposing to build a mammoth warehouse distribution facility in Hawleyville during its January 26 meeting at Newtown Community Center. It was the first time the applicant was involved in any type of public presentation on the proposal.

The agenda stated that Application IW #21‐36 is submitted by Wharton Equity Partners, LLC, for a property located at 10 Hawleyville Road and 1 Sedor Lane to construct a 344,880 square foot warehouse building and associated site improvements, including parking, stormwater management, driveway, and wetland crossing.

Documents are on file in the Land Use Agency department at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Thomas Cody, attorney at Robinson+Cole in Hartford, represented the applicant and was assisted by Matthew Bruton, engineer at BL Companies in Meriden.

Cody prefaced the presentation by saying, “About three and a half years ago you had an application for a wetland permit for this same property. That application also included an adjacent property… that project was a bit different than this. That project was for 250,000 square feet of warehouse space and 275,000 square feet of medical office buildings.

“You approved that application in July of 2018. The project did not go forward. We’ve now come back with Wharton and are presenting an application for a smaller area than what you previously approved. What I think you are going to see is that much of what the potential impact areas to wetlands are similar to what was previously approved.”

Presentation

Bruton then walked through the elements of the proposed application. He presented an aerial view of the property, which showed how Interstate 84 is located directly to the north of the parcel.

“In general, the lot is around 100 acres … the topography is quite dramatic. Ranging anywhere from around 400 feet in the low areas where the wetlands are located, upwards of 520-ish in the middle at the top of the topography,” he said.

Bruton explained that the site is undeveloped and currently all woods. He pointed out that there are wetlands along Hawleyville Road, as well as a long wetlands system on the eastern boundary.

Bruton said that in addition to proposing a rectangular warehouse building, there would be “76 dock spaces, 51 trailer spaces, and 362 parking spaces.”

He noted that trailer spaces and truck docks would be placed on the western side of the building facing Hawleyville Road.

Additionally, he said there would be “two parking fields for passenger vehicles” for future employees on the northern and southern sides of the property.

A full access driveway would be on Hawleyville Road, and there would also be an exit-only driveway for passenger vehicles on Mt Pleasant.

Bruton mentioned they would need to create a stormwater management system and already did a consultation to learn how to limit impact to wetlands. The application has a 365-page Stormwater Management Report on file.

Bruton informed the commission about the sediment and erosion control plan, as well as how they will landscape for aesthetics and buffering.

When discussing the specific wetlands, he said, “There are a few on the property… in four different areas: one by the driveway entrance to Hawleyville Road; one as we come up the site, up the hill towards the developments; then we have two little areas adjacent to the building and parking area.”

Bruton said that the driveway would have 3,100 square feet of wetlands filling for “safe access to the property for the future tenant or tenants.”

With that in mind, he said, “We are providing 2,300 square feet of wetland creation … that is recreation on the other side to make sure that we improve areas that we are directly impacting as part of this access.”

For the second impacted area, where the driveway curls upwards, Bruton pointed out that “about 14,000 square feet used for the stormwater management impacts were provided and an infiltration basin adjacent to the truck loading dock.”

Area three, behind the building east of the property, will have “approximately 2,500 square feet” of impacted area for storm water infiltration and improving ground water. Area four, in the southeast corner of the building, will impact 26,000 square feet.

Bruton said these areas were reviewed with a wetland scientist to minimize impacts.

He went on to describe the utilities and lighting, which he acknowledged is more for Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z). If approved by the IWC, they are interested in applying for a special exception through the P&Z.

After the presentation, Cody added, “[Wetland scientist] Eric Davidson supported the location of that direct wetland crossing and thought it was an appropriate place and specifically noted that he did not believe that there were any feasible imprudent alternatives to that crossing area. If we didn’t have a crossing there, as Matt pointed out, the site becomes virtually landlocked.”

While Davidson was not present, he had submitted a report.

Commission Discussion

IWC Chair Sharon Salling inquired if Bruton could specifically describe “how that crossing will be erected?”

Since the topography is different across the property, Bruton addressed that they want to keep traffic safety in mind and do not want to create too steep of an incline.

“In general, we are obviously matching grades to Hawleyville Road and filling up from there to set our building elevation,” he said, noting that the driveway “snakes up” the property.

Salling also asked if they could talk about their plan for snow removal and how that would be handled.

Bruton said, “As snow melts and as ice melts, pushing that stuff into that [storm water management] system is what treats it along the way. The driveway is sanded to make sure that trucks can get up and down safely. When that gets washed in, it’s not swept up, it gets into the system; and that system will capture those things, to make sure that it doesn’t fully mitigate into the wetlands.”

He added that the future owner will have to maintain those systems.

‘Disaster For The Town’

Members of the public were then invited to speak to ask questions and comment on the application.

Newtown resident Ray Bigelis asked if the Town of Newtown would have a third-party wetlands scientist “with no conflict of interest” review the application. He also inquired what the credentials are of the wetlands scientists that did the report for the applicant.

Salling explained that the town does not hire another party unless they feel there is a problem that needs to be further investigated.

As for credentials, Cody said that Eric Davidson “is a registered soil scientist, he is a certified professional wetland scientist, and a wildlife biologist by trade.”

Newtown resident Donald Leonard voiced concerns for the project, saying, “There is an enormous amount of environmental impact as a result of something of this magnitude.”

He added, “Not only environmental, but beyond that … I would ask that this commission look carefully at a proposal like this. Half the trees are going to be lost. What’s the impact on human and animal life to this pristine piece of property? I think it would really be a disaster for the town. I hope that it doesn’t pass.”

Newtown resident Leonardo Casale spoke next and asked what the “materials and contents” of the warehouse would be and its potential contaminants.

“There is always a non-zero chance that it can leak and contaminate the wetlands,” he said.

Cody replied, “A building of this type is held to the very, very highest standards of environmental control. The owner will have extensive requirements of all its tenants if there is more than one. All of the tenants will be required to comply with environmental laws, because this is a very important and serious matter.”

He added, “There will be a spill management plan on site if such an unlikely event will occur.”

After some discussion, the commission and applicant decided that they will leave the public hearing open in order to have Davidson attend the next meeting to address concerns.

The next scheduled IWC meeting will be Wednesday, February 9, at 7:30 pm at the Newtown Municipal Center. Residents are welcome to attend and speak during the public participation portion.

For more information about upcoming IWC meetings, visit newtown-ct.gov/inland-wetlands-commission.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.