Condo Complex Gains

Layout Changes, Loft Space

By Andrew Gorosko

A developer has gained town approvals for some design changes at a 54-unit age-restricted condominium complex now under construction on Oakview Road in Sandy Hook, near Newtown High School.

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved requests from Toll Brothers, Inc, to reconfigure the layout of some condominium buildings to be constructed on the site, as well as to create finished loft space on the second stories of some of the condo units. The P&Z approved the design changes for the Regency at Newtown complex at a February 15 session.

So far, the developer has constructed one five-unit condo building at the site. 

The project is located at a 51-acre site at 21 Oakview Road. The complex, which is intended for people over age 55, will be visible from the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 and from Fairfield Hills.

Toll Brothers spent two years seeking town approvals for the project, which underwent repeated revisions, before the P&Z approved it in a 3-to-2 vote one year ago.

Under the P&Z’s February 15 approval, the number of condo units to be built will remain at 54, but the number of condo buildings to be constructed on the site would increase from 11 to 14. The reconfiguration request was the subject of a public hearing on February 1. 

The developer will reconfigure the layout of the central section of the site, constructing seven buildings holding 20 condos, instead of the previously approved plans that called for four buildings holding 20 condos.

The other 34 condos would be contained in seven buildings situated on the perimeter of the site.

By constructing more smaller buildings at the complex, the developer would create additional desirable “end units,” or condos that have windows on three sides of the units. “Interior units” only have windows on two sides of the condos.

The redesigned plans would allow 28 end units at the complex, compared to the previously approved 22 end units.

In approving the modified building layout, P&Z members decided that the design changes would have no significant adverse effect on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer. The site is in the Aquifer Protection District (APD).

Also, P&Z members decided that the application for site layout modifications meets the standards and criteria of a special permit.

P&Z members decided that the modifications meet the requirements of the EH-10 zone and the requirements of the APD.

Loft Space

In a separate action at the February 15 session, P&Z members approved Toll Brothers’ request for design modifications to allow the creation of loft space on the second story of some condo units.

Such loft space would be left open to the floor below.

As a condition of that approval, the P&Z is requiring that the staircases in the condos with loft space be equipped with sufficient electrical service to allow the potential future installation of diagonal-travel chair-based elevators, known as a “stair glides” for condo residents.

Residents would climb the stairs in the condos to reach the loft space on the second story, until they are no longer physically able to do so, after which they would use the chair-based elevators.

P&Z members decided that allowing loft space in the condos would provide additional opportunities and diversity in dwellings for active older adults.

Also, the P&Z decided that allowing loft space on the upper level of condos is consistent with the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.