Planning & Zoning continued its discussion of a text amendment change requested by Newtown Youth Academy at its May 1 meeting.

At the last Planning & Zoning Commission meeting on April 17, Fran Pennarola, Newtown Youth Academy (NYA) director, approached the commission seeking a text amendment change that would help expand NYA’s opportunities to plan and host events at its location within Fairfield Hills.

At that meeting, he said that the proposed amendment “really accomplishes two things. I think it clarifies and makes simpler for users what kinds of activities are going to be allowed on the campus … But it also allows for those activities to take place inside a building because currently the regulation does not appear to permit those. This would benefit certainly Newtown Youth Academy, but would also benefit the community center and other public users.”

P&Z Commissioner Barbara Manville read the motion, “Application 20.03 by Newtown Youth Academy for a text amendment to the zoning regulations of the Town of Newtown, section 6.03.300 AA for activities and off street areas, or existing permanent structures … is hereby found consistent with a plan of conservation and development and shall be approved.”

Rob Sibley, Land Use director, clarified, “The additional sentence was added so that if events aren’t temporary, more than once a year, then they would have to come in for a special exception or a special permit for you for their structure so that they can add that use to their structure.”

The commissioners put it to a vote and it passed unanimously.

Taunton Press Build Updates

Following the decision regarding NYA, the commissioners then invited Phil Clark and Megan Miller, the applicants for the Taunton Press site at 63 South Main Street, to discuss their application further.

The applicants have submitted three applications: one for a text amendment for a special design district, one for a change from special design district #11 to #15, and the application for the build itself.

The build will involve both existing buildings on the site and one new building. One of the existing buildings will have 26 residential units, the other will be mixed use with 15 residential units. Claris Design Build, Clark’s business, plans to move their office from 53 Church Hill Road into this mixed use building. As he said at the previous meeting, his business is growing and is running out of options to keep his business in town, something he would like to do. The new building will include 36 units. The 13-acre property will have other amenities for both workers and residents, such as a community garden, outdoor recreational facilities, and a café/restaurant.

Connie Widmann recused herself from this meeting as she knows the applicant. Manville acted as chair.

Miller discussed some of the changes the town engineer, John Curtis, suggested. One of those changes is a reduction in the proposed parking area to “address [Curtis’s] concerns of peak runoff off of the site and the water quality.”

“Being that this project is so close to Deep Brook … and their concern about impervious water going into Deep Brook and heating it up further. With this proposed plan, we’re reducing the parking area by, again, another 2,000 square feet of impervious area, and now our proposed parking area is solely in the footprint of the existing parking area,” Miller said.

The project still provides 1.8 parking spaces per unit. Miller noted that on weekends the office space will be vacant, allowing more room for residents to park there.

Curtis also wants soil testing done, which Miller said “will be done at the time of construction.” Miller also said that the rain garden size has increased, therefore reducing peak flows off the site as well.

“We have a very nominal increase for the 25- and 50-year storm event. That is a 0.4% increase, which when you’re talking about 64 CFS off a site of 13 acres is very, very minimal. This is also compliant with the storm water manual,” Miller said.

Miller presented the traffic study that was performed by Mitchell Traffic Engineering. The report found that “this proposed development will actually have a reduction in traffic volume from the previously light industrial use, which was Taunton Press.”

The applicants met with Fred Hurley, Public Works director, who said that “his system can certainly handle [these] flows.”

The big topic of discussion regarded sidewalks in the area. Clark plans to include walking trails around the property for both workers and residents at the site, but noted adding sidewalks and connecting to the Borough of Newtown sidewalk system would be “incredibly infeasible to create a sidewalk on [Route] 25.”

Commissioner Greg Rich asked Clark to explain more about the sidewalks. Clark explained there is a stone wall on the property that would have to be moved, and the sidewalks would go right through wetlands. The telephone poles on Route 25 are right in the middle of where the sidewalk would have to go, blasting would have to be done to grade the topography of the area, and a pedestrian bridge would have to be built over Deep Brook. The nearest sidewalk to connect to is by Walgreens, which is about 1,500 feet away from the site.

Sibley said, “My hope is perhaps … the commission can consider conditioning that if sidewalks are installed on South Main Street along Route 25, or along Mile Hill, that the applicant would be required to install interior sidewalks to reach it.”

Clark shared, “I’m certainly open to, and I also thought about it, too, that if the town ever does want to connect [sidewalks] … we would certainly participate in making the front of our property a sidewalk in the future.”

Rich asked Sibley to prepare language as a condition for the next meeting. Sibley agreed.

Clark and Miller informed the commission that they met with the Design Advisory Review Board. “The project was reviewed favorably,” Clark said, adding that “they had no recommendations for us to change any of the design or landscaping.”

David Landau asked the applicant about winter road maintenance, raising concern for proximity to Deep Brook.

Clark said, “We met with [Trout Unlimited] and they’re gonna propose a maintenance program for us as far as where to put the snow, what type of salt to use on the driveways, what type of pesticides are natural, [what type of] fertilizers we can use … The common garden is fairly close to the brook, so they’re gonna recommend what we can use in the common garden.”

Clark added that the staff taking care of the project will be trained on how to conserve Deep Brook, as well as put together information about the brook, its history, and what Claris Design Build is trying to do to protect it.

Only one person from the public spoke. Neil Baldino, vice president of Candlewood Valley Trout Unlimited, asked the commission to find out where the garbage disposal will go and where the snow removal will go on the site.

“Where’s [the snow] piled,” Baldino asked. “The south side [is] close to the brook, then you got the other half that goes north. So, obviously, we’d like it all to go north if you could.”

The public hearing will continue on Thursday, May 15, 7 pm at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, in the Council Chambers.

Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.