P&Z Rejection Expected—

Condo Complex Gains Revised Wetlands Permit

By Andrew Gorosko

The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has granted a developer a revised wetlands permit for a controversial 26-unit condominium complex proposed for a 4.5-acre site at 95-99 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

In a 4-to-1 vote on March 14, IWC members approved Dauti Construction, LLC’s application for a revised wetlands permit for Edona Commons, a mixed-income housing complex that would be located in six buildings on the steep, rugged site near Dayton Street.

IWC member Sally O’Neil dissented in the voting. Voting in favor of the revised wetlands permit were IWC members Dr Philip Kotch, Katja Pieragostini, Sharon Salling, and Mary Curran, according to Conservation Official Rob Sibley.

Last May, the developer had received a wetlands permit from the IWC for a 23-unit version of Edona Commons. The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), however, rejected that version of the project last August. The revised wetlands permit concerns the three additional condos that are present in the 26-unit version of the project.

The P&Z was poised to act on the Edona Commons application at a meeting scheduled for the night of March 15, after the deadline for this edition of The Newtown Bee.

Based on comments made by P&Z members at a February 15 session, the P&Z appeared ready to reject the project for variety of reasons. 

It would be the fourth time since 2003 that the P&Z turned down multifamily housing proposals for the site from the developer.

The Edona Commons proposal has drawn continuing strong opposition from nearby residents who have protested the project for many reasons. They charge that the project would create increased traffic in a congested area. They add that the site is an inappropriate place for high-density development. The opponents have become legal intervenors to the application.

In a separate environmental protection role, on February 28, the IWC rejected the developer’s requested endorsement of its aquifer protection plan for the Edona Commons application. The past 23-unit version of Edona Commons also did not receive an aquifer protection endorsement last year.

A section of the Edona Commons site is within the Aquifer Protection District (APD), a land use zone above the subterranean Pootatuck Aquifer, where environmental restrictions are in force for aquifer protection.

As the town’s aquifer protection agency, the IWC makes recommendations to the P&Z on whether development applications within the APD would have significant negative effects on the underlying aquifer. The P&Z then acts on those aquifer protection recommendations.

The IWC did not endorse the Edona Commons aquifer protection plan because the developer failed to provide any information to it on how septic waste disposal systems could be used on the site, in light of the Water and Sewer Authority’s (WSA) decision not to provide a municipal sewer system connection for the project. 

Wetlands permits focus on the quality of surface waters. Aquifer protection reviews concern the water quality of aquifers, which are water-bearing subterranean layers of sand and gravel.