Newtown Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) is currently evaluating an application that proposes building a large industrial building in Hawleyville.

Application IW #21‐36 by Wharton Equity Partners, LLC, is 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.

At the IWC’s last meeting, on January 26, residents expressed concerns about the project, specifically for its impact on the environment, animals, and people.

To address these issues, the commission and applicant agreed to continue the application’s public hearing to the IWC’s next meeting on Wednesday, February 9, at 7:30 pm, at the Newtown Municipal Center.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and Land Use Agency Director of Planning George Benson spoke with The Newtown Bee prior to that meeting to share the history of the property.

‘Originally Farmland’

According to the Newtown Tax Assessor’s website, both parcels of land are privately owned and not affiliated with the town.

M Newtown Assoc LTD PRTNR is listed as the owner of 10 Hawleyville Road, and Hawleyville Properties LLC is listed as the owner of 1 Sedor Lane. The latter has a residential house currently on the property.

The combined parcel of land is about 112 acres of forest.

Benson shared, “The property was originally farmland, so what the property is now — it just grew over. It hasn’t been forest forever.”

He added that there are now “a lot of invasives” on the land.

Rosenthal said that upon looking at a topographic map of the property, there are significant grade changes throughout it.

The current warehouse proposal seeks to build the facility in an area in the middle where the terrain is flatter.

“It’s not an easy site to work on because of the grades. You really have to have the right developer and investor … it’s a big investment in the land and developing,” Benson said.

The wetlands also pose potential challenges for development, which is why the application is currently being reviewed by the IWC to make sure it is in line with the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

“We’ll see what the wetlands commission says about it,” Benson said.

Industrial Zone

The application’s property is located in Industrial Zone M-2A.

The Town of Newtown Zoning Regulations state, on page 83, “The purpose and intent of the M-2A Zone is to provide for significant economic development activities without adversely impacting the basic character of the surrounding neighborhoods or overburdening the natural or built environment. It is intended that the land in the district will be developed as a cohesive unit where the development of any parcel will complement the district as a whole. A pedestrian friendly environment and transit access must be considered in the design of the site.”

Permitted uses are listed to include laboratories that are devoted to research, design, and experimentation; office building(s), such as medical offices; light industrial use, such as for manufacturing, fabricating, processing, converting, altering, packaging, bottling or assembling of products, the operations of which are conducted solely within an enclosed building or group of buildings; as well as a hotel and conference center that has no more than 250 guest rooms.

Rosenthal clarified, “This isn’t open space or land that is now being re-designated in zoning. It’s been zoned commercially for a very long time.”

He recalled how around 1979-1980, when his grandfather was first selectman of Newtown, he heard conversations at the dinner table about how National Semiconductor was considering creating a corporate park there.

A corporate park — also commonly called a “business park” or “office park” — is a property that has multiple buildings grouped together.

Benson said, “Since I have been here, people have looked at it for warehouse-type uses. We had someone look at it for an adventure park recently. We’ve had a number of people look at it for development.”

The Town of Newtown did finance the installation of a sewer system upgrade and extension that would better promote possible development of the property, as well as the surrounding area.

Rosenthal said around 2015, “the town invested in bringing in sewers from Bethel/Stony Hill. It’s actually the Danbury line that goes to the Danbury plant. We brought sewer capacity into that Route 6 and 25 area for the purposes of economic development.”

He later noted, via e-mail, “While the infrastructure investment the Town made several years ago in bringing sewer to the area was intended to spur some of the investment along Route 6 and Route 25 consistent with the POCD, I don’t think it likely had any implications for the proposed warehouse as it is not heavily dependent on sewer as opposed to other types of development.”

The site also has a road leading up to the top of the property that was created when GE was looking at possibly acquiring it.

“It has since grown over, but you can see it on the shoulder of [Route] 25, the same side of the highway entrances, and opposite Covered Bridge … they started building a road to gain access to the top of the property. Then when the project went by the wayside, the road was never completed, but you can see it there,” Rosenthal said.

‘Developed At Some Point’

Rosenthal estimates that in the last 40 years there have been upwards of 10 projects considered for the property and that some have made it through the town processes further than others.

Most recently, though, there have been three proposals for the site.

Benson said, “In 2018, the site was actually approved for one warehouse for 250,000 square feet and medical offices on the other part, 90 Mt Pleasant, next door for 200,000 square feet. That was approved by the [IWC].”

Despite it being approved by the town, the project was never built, reasons of which could have been due to finances or future tenant challenges.

Then in 2019, a proposal came in to build three warehouses for a total of 500,000 square feet and that was denied by the town.

“The three warehouses was on the road to being approved, but they just basically didn’t show up for the last meeting and got denied,” Benson explained.

The current proposal is for a 344,880 square foot warehouse building.

Regardless if this specific project gets approved, Benson and Rosenthal agree that the site will still likely be developed in the future.

“Every site that is zoned for industrial use and business use, the property owner has the right to develop it,” Benson said. “We have the right to tell them whether or not what they are doing is not going to work because of the wetlands. But it’s zoned for industrial use, and it has been for a long time.”

He later added, “Development is going to happen, and we try to make it the best we can … because it is industrial, it’s going to be developed at some point.”

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

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