Taunton Lake Residents Express Concerns About Condominium Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Some residents living near Taunton Lake are expressing concerns about the environmental implications of a 110-unit townhouse condominium complex proposed for a Mt Pleasant Road site with frontage on Taunton Lake.

A handful of residents voiced their concerns at a March 23 Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) session, at which the developers informed WPCA members about planned soil testing on the 36-acre site. The site is on the south side of Mt Pleasant Road, just west of the Taunton Lake Drive neighborhood.

 Ginsburg Development Connecticut, LLC, is formulating plans for an “active adult community” for people over 55 on the hilly site. The firm is asking the WPCA to expand the municipal sewer district to provide sanitary sewer service for the envisioned complex. The sewer district is directly east of the site.

Ginsburg states the property has the capacity to sustain 110 dwelling units, with the use of large-scale septic systems. Upcoming soil testing by the developer will show how many dwelling units could be supported by large septic systems. The test results are expected within a month.

The WPCA uses the results of such soil testing to establish the wastewater-cleansing capacity of the soil on a site. Based on those test results and other factors, the WPCA then determines whether sewer service should be provided for such a property, and if so, how many units should be provided with sewer service.

Although Ginsburg states the proposed complex could be served by large septic systems, it says it would prefer having the units connected to the town sewer system.

“Significant portions of usable land would be required [for septic systems] to treat the estimated sewage flow from this site. The applicant would be able to reconfigure the site plan to provide a better overall design if sewers were made available to this site. [Septic system] treatment would cluster the units, thus creating a denser and less pleasing development,” according to Ginsburg.

Residents’ Concerns

Resident Heidi Winslow of 36 Taunton Lake Drive told the WPCA it would not be wise to allow the developer to build large septic systems on the site.

“I think an on-site septic system is a serious mistake,” she said, noting that poor soils in the area resulted in the need to install sewers in the Taunton Lake Drive neighborhood several years ago.

Septic systems would eventually develop operational problems, Ms Winslow said. Placing a septic system on the site within 150 feet of Taunton Lake, as described in rough plans by the developer, would pose a “serious problem,” she added.

Several Taunton Lake area residents voiced similar concerns.

In a letter to WPCA Chairman Richard Zang, Leon and Patricia Barkman of 49 Taunton Lake Road wrote, in part, “There are many homeowners and businesses in Newtown who do not have sewers and want them… These homeowners are current taxpayers and should have priority over a new developer… The condominium project on Taunton Lake would without a doubt ruin one of the few remaining clean lakes left in Connecticut and destroy the delicate ecosystem that exists within the lake.”

Inspection

Commenting on his recent inspection of the development site, WPCA member Alan Shepard, who also is a civil engineer, said the soil on the property is not as good for septic waste disposal as the sandy soil on the site of Riverview Condominiums, a 49-unit complex behind Sand Hill Plaza, where a large septic system is in operation.

Mr Shepard said he would prefer that the Mt Pleasant site not be served by septic systems, adding, though, that testing must be done to establish soil quality.

Mr Shepard suggested various technical means the developer might use to connect to the municipal sewer system, possibly including the use of an existing sewage pumping station at end of Taunton Lake Drive.

Mr Zang said he hopes the developer is not seeking to force a quick decision from the WPCA on whether it would receive municipal sewer connections. Mr Zang noted that the development site lies completely outside the municipal sewer district, adding that the town has constraints on its remaining sewage treatment capacity.

Thomas Gissen, Ginsburg’s development director, said the developer is not seeking a quick decision from the WPCA on sewer connections.

“We’re examining our alternatives,” Mr Gissen said, adding that the developer expects to provide more information on the development proposal to the WPCA within a month.

There are several development projects in the works for properties bordering the sewer district, in which developers want sewers extended to their sites, Mr Zang noted. The WPCA needs to review its policy on extending sewers to such sites in light of a limited municipal sewage treatment capacity, he said.

It remains unclear whether a possible town purchase of the state-owned Fairfield Hills core campus would mean that the town acquires the Fairfield Hills sewage treatment capacity which the state now owns at the joint state-town sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road, according to Mr Zang.

Most of the Mt Pleasant Road development site lies in the Borough of Newtown. The northwest corner of the site is in the Town of Newtown. The property lies in borough and in town residential zones. The developer would require multiple borough and town approvals for a townhouse complex.

The developer proposes constructing about 40 buildings on the site. Each building would contain either two or four condo units. The two-story townhouses would have basements, some of which would be walkout basements, depending on topography. The units would range in size from 1,400 to 2,400 square feet. The developer has an option to buy the site from the Grossman family.

The developer currently is building a 23-house condominium complex on Route 107 in Redding, known as Redding Woods.

In Danbury, the firm is in the city land use review process for Woodcrest, a proposed 282-unit condo complex on Shelter Rock Road.

Ginsburg Development Corporation of Hawthorne, NY, has done extensive development in Westchester County, including condominiums, cooperative apartments, single family homes, and apartments, plus commercial development.