P&Z Rejects Sandy Hook Resubdivision Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Citing a variety of technical flaws, plus open space issues, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has rejected construction plans for Cider Mill Farm, a proposed 25-lot residential resubdivision on 138 acres in Sandy Hook, next to Lower Paugussett State Forest.

P&Z members May 17 voted 4-0 to turn down the development proposal submitted by M&E Land Group. The firm is a partnership of developer Thomas Maguire and engineer Larry Edwards.

P&Z review of plans for Cider Mill Farm focused on subdivision regulations concerning corner lots, lot frontages, and the “minimum square,” said Elizabeth Stocker, the town’s community development director. The minimum square is a planning device used by P&Z in establishing likely house construction positions on building lots.

The Cider Mill Farm development site lies north of the intersection of Charter Ridge Road and Yogananda Street. The site has frontage on Gelding Hill Road, Orange Pippin Road, Charter Ridge Road, and Russett Road. The site lies generally north of the Bennetts Farm residential development.

The property formerly was known as Newtown Estates, a residential subdivision that was proposed in 1989. Although Newtown Estates had received P&Z’s approval, the project never materialized for financial reasons. The general area where Cider Mill Farm is proposed has undergone heavy residential development during the past decade.

Cider Mill Farm is the largest local residential subdivision proposed since Tilson Woods, a 40-lot development that gained P&Z approval in March 2000, and is now under construction near Treadwell Park in Sandy Hook.

P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano noted on May 17 that the proposed 25-lot development would be the first of a three-phase project containing 52 lots. If P&Z does not strictly enforce its subdivision regulations for the initial development phase of 25 lots, such strict enforcement would prove problematic throughout the planned three phases of the project, he said.

“This is not the right plan,” Mr Fogliano said of the design plans which P&Z turned down. Many design changes are needed, he added.

How Chambers Road is employed in the proposal, and also how the minimum square rule is employed in the design, need to be rethought, Mr Fogliano said. The use of Chambers Road in the plans violates the zoning regulations, Mr Fogliano said. Chambers Road is an old town road on the site that has fallen into disrepair and is no longer used as a road.

The development site is the last sizeable piece of land near Lower Paugussett State Forest, Mr Fogliano noted. “This is an important piece. It needs to be [designed] better than it has been,” he said.

 Ms Stocker said the developers had shown her an alternate version for the Cider Mill Farm project which would contain the same number of house lots, but which would have lot shapes that are more irregular.

Ms Stocker suggested Chambers Road be used as a piece of open space land for passive recreation instead of being used as a town road to create lot frontage in the proposed subdivision.

P&Z member Lilla Dean said that although dead-end Chambers Road may technically be a town road, to the casual observer it appears to have been abandoned due to its state of disrepair. No one would drive on such a road, Mr Fogliano said.

P&Z member Robert Poulin said the commission should not take it upon itself to redesign a subdivision proposal it does not like. A development proposal either meets applicable regulations or does not meet them, he said.

In preparing to vote on Cider Mill Farm, Mr Fogliano said, “Let’s give ‘friendly’ disapproval without prejudice.” Under P&Z’s rules, when applications are rejected “without prejudice,” developers may immediately submit new applications without having to undergo the one-year waiting period that is required when applications are rejected “with prejudice.”

On that note, P&Z members voted 4-0 to reject the application without prejudice.

The highly detailed motion to reject the plans lists a host of technical reasons for the rejection, including plan deficiencies concerning the minimum square, lot frontage, building setbacks, and lot numbering.

In its rejection, P&Z also noted “The plan for the open space … trail improvements, public parking areas, and road work on Chambers Rd have not been adequately addressed by the applicant. The proposal is not consistent with the overall open space objectives” of the town’s subdivision regulations and the town Plan of Conservation and Development, according to P&Z members. The developers had proposed designating 20.6 acres of open space for passive recreation.

The project would require the redesign of several lots to comply with the town’s zoning regulations, P&Z members added.

Development Concerns

After reviewing the Cider Mill Farm development plans for the forested hillside earlier this year, Ms Stocker offered some comments.

In a memorandum to P&Z, Ms Stocker wrote, “As this area of Newtown continues to be developed, pressure for open space, natural resources, recreation, and historic preservation will continue to grow as well. The proposed resubdivision application has not adequately addressed the impact it will have on these resources, as it was designed for maximum development potential. This proposal clearly disregards neighborhood design and community planning principles.”

Ms Stocker had raised development issues concerning the placement of houses on building lots, the proposed removal of stone walls from the site, the relocation of a trail, and the future of Chambers Road.

Ms Stocker had written that the open space proposed by the developers is not well conceived and that the project did not meet applicable rules.

P&Z held a public hearing in February at which several people living near the proposed development site expressed their concerns.

In a letter to P&Z, Louise Mango and Craig Ferris of 3 Orange Pippin Road raised concerns about the proposed development’s effects on public safety, municipal services, and the environment.

The vehicular traffic design for the proposed development could be improved, they said.

Ms Mango and Mr Ferris asked P&Z members to carefully review the proposal as it affects the provision of municipal services, such as public education. The proposed 25 lots have the potential to generate 50 to 75 new children for the public schools, Ms Mango and Mr Ferris added.

 “Our taxes continue to increase to pay for the additional educational expenses associated with the increase in school age children in our town,” they said.

They added, “The proposed subdivision, as presently envisioned, is not designed in the public interest and will result in potentially significant adverse effects on public safety, municipal services and the environment.”

Ms Mango and Mr Ferris expressed concerns that the development be designed to maintain the existing quality of life in nearby neighborhoods.