21-Lot Hawleyville Subdivision Approved

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission has approved Newtown Hunt, a 21-lot residential subdivision planned for a broad wet area in the Pond Brook watershed in Hawleyville.

P&Z members June 1 unanimously approved three applications from Toll Brothers, Inc., for the development on 115 acres on Hawleyville Road and Farrell Road. The approvals concern the subdivision of land, the creation of a pond, and driveway construction.

Of the development, P&Z member Heidi Winslow said, “I don’t think it overburdens the land. It’s a very large parcel, but it’s very wet.”

As part of the approval, the P&Z is requiring the developer to post an almost $1.2 million bond to ensure the construction of subdivision roads, the installation of drainage structures, the placement of fire suppression equipment, and the planting of trees. Also, the developer will be required to pay the town $33,500 to cover the cost of repaving a section of Farrell Road providing access to four houses in the development.

The P&Z also is requiring that the floors of the basements in all houses be constructed at least four feet above an estimated flooding level.

Ms Winslow said the developer’s revised application for the project well addressed the various questions which P&Z members had posed about an earlier version of the project.

At an April public hearing, two Hawleyville residents living near the site expressed concerns about the effects that building 21 homes in the area would have on the quality and quantity of water in Pond Brook, a stream that drains from Taunton Pond to Lake Lillinonah via Hawleyville. Pond Brook runs across the Newtown Hunt development site.

Toll Bothers representatives explained they cooperated with the town Conservation Commission, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the US Army Corps of Engineers in designing the project to protect Pond Brook water quality.

The developer plans to build 15 houses on two new internal streets on the site. About one-half mile of new road will be constructed.

Four houses will be constructed on Farrell Road and two houses will be built on Hawleyville Road. About 1,400 feet of Farrell Road will be improved to provide better access to the four new houses on that street. Lots range in size from 2 to 5.4 acres. Internal access to the site will be provided on the west side of Hawleyville Road, north of the Hawleyville post office.

In a past letter to the P&Z, the Town of Brookfield urged that traffic signals be placed at the intersection of Currituck, South Obtuse, and Hawleyville roads to handle added traffic flow stemming from the proposed subdivision.

P&Z members said they do not believe the development will substantially increase local traffic flow, adding that the installation of any traffic signals is a decision for the state to make, not the town.

Last October, the Conservation Commission approved the 21-lot development proposal, having rejected Toll Brothers’ earlier plans, which called for 26 houses on the site, plus the placement of a 20-foot-thick layer of fill over wetlands.

In assembling its development application, Toll Brothers has combined several land parcels. The site lies primarily in an area with two-acre minimum residential zoning.

The Algonquin and Iroquois natural gas transmission pipelines run through the development site. The property has a varied landscape with fields, thickets, hedgerows, brooks, excavated ponds, wetlands, and watercourses. Some of the site is flat while other portions are steep and rocky. The developer plans a trail system and open space network.

The Newtown Hunt site is the area where Joy Brewster had proposed construction of the sprawling, controversial Connecticut Exposition and Performing Events Center (CEPEC) in 1995. After heavy protests from Hawleyville residents, the P&Z rejected proposed zone changes that would have allowed Ms Brewster to proceed with planning for the CEPEC project.