Wetlands Panel Sued Over Subdivision Permit

By Andrew Gorosko

A Riverside woman has sued the Conservation Commission over its granting a wetlands construction permit for Old Wagon Estates, a proposed eight-lot residential subdivision off Alpine Circle.

In a lawsuit filed March 13 in Danbury Superior Court, Mary McNee, of 25 Alpine Circle, sues the Conservation Commission and Excelsior, Inc, the development firm which proposes construction of Old Wagon Estates on 13.6 acres in an R-1 zone, south of Alpine Circle.

The wetlands permit granted by the Conservation Commission February 23 allows the developer to cross wetlands with a road and two driveways in connection with subdivision construction.

The subdivision application is pending before the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

Ms McNee owns 25 Alpine Circle, a property that lies across a narrow, gravel roadway from property owned by the developer.

When the Conservation Commission approved the wetlands permit, it made no inquiry regarding the suitability of such a development in the area, or whether the development would adversely affect the recharging and purification of area groundwater or the Pootatuck Aquifer, according to the lawsuit.

“The commission erroneously and unreasonably based its decision on a previous approval, which did not include a road crossing and did not include the amount of excavation and fill required by this permit’s activity,” according to the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Ms McNee claims the granting of the wetlands permit was unreasonable, arbitrary, an abuse of power, and contrary to law, because it did not examine the effects of granting a permit.

Through the lawsuit, Ms McNee seeks to have a judge nullify the wetlands permit. The suit charges that wetlands, watercourses and underground water, including the Pootatuck Aquifer, would be irreparably harmed if the Conservation Commission issues the permit.

The town has an April 4 court appearance date to answer the charges made in the lawsuit.

Excelsior proposes improving Alpine Circle as part of the development project.

A new dead-end road, which the developer proposes extending off Alpine Circle, has the potential to eventually connect to the dead-end Morgan Drive. Such a road connection would create a direct link between the Riverside neighborhood and Jeremiah Road.

 In an earlier version of Old Wagon Estates, the developer had suggested eventually linking the proposed new road to Stone Gate Drive, a dead-end off Jeremiah Road that lies just west of Morgan Drive. 

Instead of the individual domestic water wells that typically are drilled in residential subdivisions, the applicant proposes linking the homes in Old Wagon Estates to a community water system now in use in the area.

Alpine Circle, which now is a private road, would become a public road under an agreement reached between the developer and the selectmen. About 6,000 cubic yards of earthen fill would be removed from the site to make it suitable for development. Such earthen cuts would be needed to achieve the town’s grading standards for development.

In a February letter to First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, Ms McNee questioned the development project. Nine people who either live on Alpine Circle or own property there signed a petition stating they do not want new paving work done on that narrow loop road. There are 16 houses on the densely developed street.