Sherman Woods— 

IWC Slates June 10 Hearing

On Sherman Woods Subdivision

By Andrew Gorosko

The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has scheduled a public hearing for June 10 on a developer’s plans to create the largest residential subdivision locally proposed for construction in almost a decade.

Developer William H. Joyce of Shepard Hill Road proposes the construction of Sherman Woods, a 38-lot subdivision on 158 acres near Sherman Street in Sandy Hook. Single-family houses would be built.

The IWC public hearing on the application is slated for 7:30 pm, Wednesday, June 10, at the town offices at 31 Peck’s Lane.

Several residents living in the area near the proposed subdivision attended a May 13 IWC session at which they apparently thought the matter would be publicly discussed.

IWC Chairman Anne Peters, however, informed the residents that the development application would be the subject of a June 10 public hearing.

At that time, the applicant would present details of the development proposal. IWC members would ask questions about the application. Members of the public would make comments and ask questions. The developer would return to the IWC at a later session to answer those questions.

Ms Peters explained that the agency’s review of the application pertains to the environmental protection of wetlands and watercourses. The IWC does not review issues such as traffic flow and construction density, she said.

Rob Sibley, deputy director of planning and land use, said May 27, “It is a fairly extensive subdivision,” which the IWC would review in detail. Issues to be considered include the intensity of development, the project’s design, the control of stormwater flow on the site, and the degree and nature of physical disturbance to the property, he said.

“There is going to be a very interested public,” he said of the residents living near the proposed development site. “This is going to take a lot of time to discuss,” he said.

The Sherman Woods site lies in the area surrounded by Berkshire Road, Sugarloaf Road, Sherman Street, Still Hill Road, and Toddy Hill Road. Basic plans for the project indicate that new streets serving the project would intersect with Toddy Hill Road and Still Hill Road. 

Stream And Pond

A stream, known as Keating Pond Brook, drains south-to-north through the site. That stream courses through an extensive wetlands corridor. The property holds a five-acre created pond. The watercourses on the site eventually drain to Curtis Pond.

A major issue facing the applicant may be the preservation of the stream and pond on the site.

The IWC will review how the developer plans to protect the wetlands, the watercourses, and also the upland areas on the site that drain toward those wetlands and watercourses.

The development site contains three small watersheds. Eleven water-quality basins would be constructed on the property to regulate stormwater flow.

The scenic development site, which now contains wooded areas and open meadows, is in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD) above the Pootatuck Aquifer. The aquifer is the source of two public water supplies.

Basic plans for the project indicate that about 45.2 acres on the site would be reserved as undeveloped open space land. Two parcels would comprise that open space.

If the project gains wetlands/watercourses protection approval from the IWC, it also would need subdivision approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z). The site has R-2 zoning, which requires building lots of at least two acres.

Sherman Woods is the largest subdivision proposed for town since Cider Mill Farm, which is adjacent to Lower Paugussett State Forest and north of the Bennetts Farm residential subdivision in Sandy Hook. M&E Land Group applied to the P&Z for the 52-lot Cider Mill Farm on 137 acres in June 2000. That project gained P&Z approvals for three development phases, with the final phase endorsed by the P&Z in November 2002.