P&Z Approves 40-Lot Tilson Woods Subdivision

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved the 40-lot Tilson Woods residential subdivision in Sandy Hook, a development project which, several weeks ago, appeared in jeopardy of being rejected as incomplete.

After discussion on the home building proposal March 2, P&Z members approved the project in a 3-to-1 vote. Voting in favor of the subdivision were Chairman Daniel Fogliano, Stephen Koch and Heidi Winslow. P&Z member James Boylan opposed it.

 The Tilson Woods project has been the longest pending residential subdivision proposal in recent memory, with plans for it having been simultaneously submitted last June for P&Z and Conservation Commission review.

The long, narrow, 61-acre development site within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD) runs along the northern side of Interstate-84, eastward from Washington Avenue to Philo Curtis Road. The rolling tract is adjacent to the municipal Treadwell Park.

Last month, Mr Fogliano commented that Tilson Financial, LLC’s, development proposal for the property was incomplete and did not warrant P&Z approval. The chairman had pointed to the many details that the plans lacked, in urging P&Z members to turn down the project.

Prospects for the construction of Tilson Woods were cast in a different light March 2 as Mr Fogliano told P&Z members that a consultation with the P&Z’s attorney Robert Fuller indicated the project should be approved. “He [Fuller] feels that these [omissions] are not insurmountable,” Mr Fogliano told P&Z members.

“If we deny [it], our chances in court [are] slim at best,” he said of the P&Z’s likelihood of losing a possible court appeal challenging a subdivision rejection.

“We came up with a [motion] that covers all of the points that need to be covered in this application [for] an approval,” including the construction of a public soccer field and walking path on the property, Mr Fogliano said.

“I think an approval might be in the town’s best interests,” he said. If the project were rejected and the applicant appealed the rejection in court and won that appeal, then the town would get a 40-lot subdivision without a soccer field and walking path on it, Mr Fogliano surmised. 

In approving the subdivision, the P&Z placed many requirements on it. The requirements concern: a $1.05 million performance bond; soccer field plans; open space plans; structure removal; zone map changes; map notations; tree planting; a drainage easement; fire suppression tanks; a roadwork and drainage work agreement with the town; drainage plans; driveway plans; road specifications; erosion and sediment control plans; a walking path; and vehicular sight lines, among many other requirements.

P&Z member Michael Osborne suggested that the P&Z deny the Tilson Woods application “without prejudice,” and then have the developer resubmit revised plans which include the required information in order to get an approval.

Mr Fogliano explained that a reapplication would mean the developer would lose some of the potential house lots on the site. The pending application was submitted just before the P&Z’s new stricter aquifer protection regulations for the APD took effect. In a reapplication, Tilson Financial would be able to seek only about 20 house lots, under the new stricter aquifer protection rules. 

If the P&Z rejected the application, it would behoove the developer to challenge such a rejection in court and probably gain approval for all 40 lots, Mr Fogliano said.

The Tilson Woods application clearly illustrates the density-reducing effect that the P&Z’s revised, tougher aquifer protection regulations would have on properties that lie in the town’s APD atop the Pootatuck Aquifer, the town’s sole source aquifer.

Mr Koch asked whether the P&Z could delay action on the proposal, saying the text of the motion to approve the project had been provided to P&Z members that night. He learned, however, that March 2 was the last day on which the P&Z could act on the matter.

“This is a tremendous amount of stipulations,” P&Z member Robert Taylor said of the numerous construction requirements which the P&Z was placing on the developer. Mr Fogliano said he expects the applicant will hire an engineer to supervise compliance with the many stipulations.

Ms Winslow said, “I think we must defer to the advice of our attorney,” in endorsing the project. She added, however, she is unhappy that the development plans require more than 20 specific modifications to gain approval. Also, the town engineer must do much review on the project, to which the P&Z will not be privy, she added.

Whether the application meets the town’s land use regulations is a “close call,” she said, adding, though, that the P&Z’s lawyer advised P&Z members to approve the project.

“This is an unusual set of circumstances,” she said, referring to the new aquifer protection regulations’ effect on the application. The approval contains “22 rather complicated stipulations,” she said, noting that subdivision applications typically include three or four stipulations.

Mr Fogliano alluded to his objections to the application, but said he would defer to the P&Z lawyer’s advice and vote to approve it. The public soccer field and walking path are attractive aspects of the project, he said, adding the lawyer had found there is no specific regulation which the P&Z could use to reject the project.

Mr Osborne, who was a non-voting member at the session, said he understands the complexities of the Tilson Woods project, but termed approving an application with so many incomplete items “a dangerous mistake.” He said he hopes the P&Z is not setting a precedent in making such an approval.

On that note, P&Z members voted on the application, approving it.