P&Z Approves Homesteads’ Expansion Request

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved a request by The Homesteads at Newtown to expand the 38 “independent living” condominium units planned for its elderly housing complex now under construction on Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville.

In a unanimous vote on April 20, P&Z members approved The Homesteads’ planned expansion of those units by almost 10,000 square feet. When fully built by mid-2003, the complex will have 298 housing units of various types.

Dr Morton Silberstein, a geriatric psychiatrist, who with his wife, Linda, is developing the site, told P&Z members expanding the planned 38 units would increase their marketability.

Besides approving expanding the units, P&Z approved adding basements to at least 22 of the 38 units. Whether more than 22 basements will be built will depend on soil conditions, according to the developer.  

“In the senior population, most often [an] extra bedroom would be used as a den or as a guest room… Our [expansion] request would have negligible, if any, impact on traffic,” Dr Silberstein told P&Z members.

Dr Silberstein stressed that an accessway, which will link the site to Pocono Road, will be used only for emergency vehicle access to the site when the Mt Pleasant Road entrance is blocked, and will not become a second entrance/exit at the property. Pocono Road residents have expressed concern that the Pocono Road accessway will become a routine entryway to the property.

“We are striving to be good neighbors,” Dr Silberstein said, noting that the complex will cover the cost of installing a fire hydrant at Pocono Road near the accessway. The hydrant will provide fire protection for the Pocono Road neighborhood, he said.

 In an April 13 letter toe P&Z, resident Kathryn Maguire of 11 Pocono Road wrote that expanding the independent living units would increase the number of residents, motor vehicles and traffic in the area. Ms Maguire stated her strong opposition to the expansion plans, unless the developer provides a written agreement to the town specifying that the accessway will be restricted to emergency use only.

Before P&Z voted on the expansion proposal, attorney William Denlinger, representing the developer, urged swift action on the request.

“Time has become a really serious factor in this,” he said. The Homesteads wants to construct a building containing model independent living units to market them to the public, he added.

P&Z member Lilla Dean noted, “The scope of the project is quite large and these changes are relatively small.”

P&Z members then approved the expansion plans with Ms Dean, Robert Taylor and Robert Poulin voting in favor.

The planned $50 million 298-unit complex on 60 acres at 166 Mt Pleasant Road also will include 160 “congregate housing” units and 100 “assisted living” units.

Planned Changes

The Homesteads sought P&Z approval to expand the independent living units and add basements because housing market conditions have changed since initial planning work was done on the project two years ago, according to Mr Denlinger.

 Initial plans called for two types of independent living units. The revised plans describe four types of independent units. Initial plans showed units ranging in size from 1,140 to 1,240 square feet. The revised plans indicate units ranging from 1,375 to 1,495 square feet. Earlier plans called for both 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units.

The revised plans describe all units as having two bedrooms. The initial plans showed all units having a one-car garage. Revised plans call for some units with two-car garages.

The design changes will increase the aggregate size of the independent living units by almost 10,000 square feet, from an earlier 54,788 square feet to 64,633 square feet.

From outdoors, it would not be possible to tell which independent living units have basements and which are built on concrete slabs, according to the developer.

None of the basements will have a “walkout” feature or basement windows, according to the developer.

The creation of walkout basements by the developers of the Walnut Tree Village condominium complex in Sandy Hook, without first obtaining direct approvals from the P&Z, sparked conflict between P&Z and the developers. On April 20 P&Z members rejected Walnut Tree Developers’ request for an after-the-fact approval for those walkout basements.

At an April 6 public hearing on The Homesteads’ request to create basements, P&Z member James Boylan said he feared such basements would become living quarters. At that session, P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano asked why the developer needed basements in the complex.

Neither Mr Boylan nor Mr Fogliano attended the April 20 meeting at which P&Z members acted on the request.