P&Z Declines To Endorse Walk-Out Basements At Walnut Tree Village

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has turned down Walnut Tree Developers’ application seeking P&Z endorsement for the developers’ past construction of walkout basements at the Walnut Tree Village condominium complex without first having sought direct P&Z approvals to create walkout basements.

P&Z members April 20, however, endorsed other changes the developers made at the 80-unit Walnut Tree Hill Road complex without first having sought P&Z permission. Those approvals concern the position of buildings and landscaping plans.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow, who acted as chairman at the April 20 P&Z meeting, objected to the developers having placed windows and doors in some basements at the complex intended for people over 55.

The developers have countered that they received permission from town staff members to create the walkout basements.

Ms Winslow said town zoning regulations concerning multi-family housing for people over 55 specify those living quarters must be provided on one level. Any basements, which exist in housing for the elderly, are not intended to serve as living space, she said.

The town’s zoning regulations do not allow multi-level senior citizen housing, she said. Developers cannot build such multi-level housing without P&Z permission, and then approach the P&Z after the fact, seeking approval for such construction, said Ms Winslow.

The town’s zoning regulations are based on what makes for the best housing arrangement to allow senior citizens to keep living in their homes, not what might be best from the standpoint of marketing the condo units, she said.

Ms Winslow said she is not proposing eliminating the walkout basements that have been created at Walnut Tree Village.

The initial development plans for the complex called for basements. Drawings for the complex, however, did not depict walkout basements, but construction notes attached to the drawings referred to such walkout basements. 

Ms Winslow said she does not want the lack of P&Z’s approval of walkout basements to prevent the complex from receiving its final certificate of occupancy, which will allow it to open its clubhouse.

Voting to approve the changes in condo complex building positions and landscaping plans, but withholding approval of the walkout basements, were Ms Winslow and P&Z members Lilla Dean, Robert Taylor and Robert Poulin.

Last November 4, P&Z started reconciling the differences between the 1995 construction plans for Walnut Tree Village and the complex that was eventually built. Walnut Tree Developers had made numerous changes to the 1995 plans during the complex’s construction during the past five years, but had not received direct P&Z permission to do so. The developers then sought P&Z amendments to their original development approval to legitimize what had been built.

Last November 4, P&Z members grudgingly endorsed numerous changes, but balked at approving some of them, instructing the developers to come back with more information concerning walkout basements, building positions, and landscaping

The developers’ creation of walkout basements in some units at the complex became a major point of conflict between P&Z and the developers last fall, with P&Z members saying the firm had not explicitly stated to P&Z that it planned to provide such facilities at the complex, and had not obtained the direct approvals from P&Z needed for such work.

Last November 18, P&Z rejected a proposed expansion of Walnut Tree Village, citing numerous flaws in the development plans that would have increased the number of condo units there from 80 to 213. P&Z objections centered on the high construction density of the project, which would have required extensive earth moving and tree cutting.

“It is apparent that the applicants’ goal was to maximize the development potential of the property, rather than design a project that would contribute to the neighborhood,” P&Z then stated.

Although P&Z members unanimously rejected those expansion plans, they held out the possibility that Walnut Tree Developers return with some modified plan that would be more acceptable.

The developers are expected to return to P&Z with a proposal to expand the complex by 110 units, which involves less disruption to the property than the rejected 133-unit proposal.

The Conservation Commission is reviewing how a 110-unit expansion project would affect the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer.