Following extensive discussion at a July 18 public hearing, Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) members in a 4-to-1 vote modified an existing special zoning permit for a controversial proposal to increase the number of rental apartment buildings planned at Covered Bridge Apartments in Hawleyville, near Exit 9 of Interstate 84.

In that vote, P&Z members increased the number of 30-unit buildings allowed from six to seven, thus increasing the number of units allowed from 180 dwellings to 210 apartments. Voting in favor of the expansion proposal, which was requested by developer Covered Bridge Newtown LLC, were P&Z Chairman Don Mitchell, Jim Swift, Corinne Cox, and Roy Meadows. P&Z member Barbara Manville dissented.

Town Land Use Agency staff members have reviewed the wetlands/watercourses protection aspects of adding a seventh apartment building at the site and have endorsed the project — in effect, eliminating the need for the Inland Wetlands Commission to review the matter at a public session.

So far, the developer has completed one building, in which 28 of 30 units are occupied, plus a clubhouse/rental office and a swimming pool. Two other apartment buildings are under construction.

The proposal to increase the construction density at the site at 9 Covered Bridge Road drew strong opposition from residents of the adjacent Hillcrest Drive/Covered Bridge Road, who have charged that the presence of apartment complex reflects the overdevelopment of Hawleyville and intensification of traffic congestion in that area.

The P&Z approved a six-building version of the complex for the 25.8-acre site in December 2015. The project gained that P&Z approval under the terms of the Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations. Those zoning rules provide developers with two financial “incentives” — a much higher residential construction density than would normally be allowed plus a commercial component for the project — provided that the developer designates 20 percent of the dwellings as “affordable housing” under the terms of applicable state law.

Thus, a 210-unit complex would hold 42 affordable units, while a 180-unit complex would have held 36 affordable units. Newtown, like many other communities, is under a state mandate to increase its stock of affordable housing. Affordable housing units are rented out to people who meet income eligibility requirements at lower prices than the “market rate” units in a complex. A high construction density, in effect, allows the rents paid for market rate units to subsidize the rents paid for affordable units.

At the July 18 hearing, civil engineer Dainius Virbickas of Artel Engineering Group LLC of Brookfield, representing developer Anthony Lucera, said the modified design for the site seeks to keep the initial plans for the apartment complex as close to the original design as possible. Based on the applicable zoning regulations on construction density, the site could hold as many as 224 apartments, he noted.

With a seventh apartment building at the site, there would be 410 parking spaces designated for the apartment complex, he said. The complex will have outdoor parking for 249 vehicles and indoor parking, situated on the lowest level of each building, for 161 vehicles.

Traffic engineer Michael Galante, of Frederick P. Clark Associates of Fairfield, representing the developer, told P&Z members that traffic generated by the additional apartment building can be accommodated by the existing roadways in that area.

Mr Galante said that he would ask state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials whether the addition of a seventh apartment building would result in a traffic signal being installed at the intersection of Covered Bridge Road and Hawleyville Road (State Route 25) but added that he expects no such signal would be approved by DOT. All vehicles leaving and entering the apartment complex must pass through that intersection. The DOT has jurisdiction over the installation of all traffic signals in the state.

“We would love to have a (traffic) light at that intersection,” Mr Lucera said.

Ms Cox asked Mr Lucera about the installation of a “covered bridge” over Pond Brook at the site, to which Mr Lucera responded that no such requirement had been listed by the P&Z in its approval of the project in 2015.

Ms Cox and Mr Swift stressed that installing a covered bridge is a requirement of the P&Z’s 2015 approval of the project, resulting in Mr Lucera saying he would check the records on that matter.

Later at the July 18 session, Mr Lucera said a covered bridge with a “New England appearance” would be designed and installed at the site. “The covered bridge is very important, and I will address that,” he said.

Before the site was cleared for apartment construction, the developer demolished a decaying covered bridge that crossed Pond Brook, replacing that old wooden structure with a modern roadway spanning the brook.

Public Comment

During the public comment section of the public hearing, Pat Napolitano of Whippoorwill Hill Road spoke in opposition to the requested 30-unit apartment expansion. He told P&Z members that adding 30 more apartments to the initially approved 180 units would result in the crowding of people in a relatively small area. Also, it will not be safe for apartment residents to walk on nearby Route 25, he said.

Mr Napolitano said he expects that many more vehicles will be traveling on Covered Bridge Road than has been described by the developer. Heavy traffic will be generated by residents living at the apartment complex, school buses, and activity at the nearby new Grace Family Church, adding to existing heavy commuter traffic in the area, he said.

“I am asking that you turn down the additional 30 apartments... as there is no rational reason for it except for the profit of the developer,” he said, adding that such growth is to the detriment of Hawleyville property owners, especially those who live near Covered Bridge Road. Mr Napolitano also urged that the town review its fire protection requirements in terms of the Hawleyville’s ongoing multifamily growth.

Mike Giudice of Whippoorwill Hill Road also spoke in opposition to the 30-unit expansion application. “I have no reason to support it,” he said.

Mr Mitchell said the P&Z’s support of such construction stems from its goal of providing a diversity of housing types locally.

“I just don’t know that this is the right place for it,” Mr Giudice responded.

The town’s 2014 Plan of Conservation and Development calls for a diversity of housing types locally, said George Benson, town planning director.

P&Z Deliberates

In its motion to approve adding a seventh building to Covered Bridge Apartments, P&Z members specified that the developer place a roof on the new bridge spanning Pond Brook which looks like the covered bridge depicted in a drawing submitted by the developer to the P&Z as part of the initial construction application.

Mr Mitchell observed, “Growth is inevitable... We just have to manage growth.”

Ms Manville commented, “I have a problem... The neighborhood is totally upset with the project.”

“I share the neighbors’ concerns,” Mr Swift said.

Mr Swift said that adding a seventh building to the complex is “very nice deal for the developer,” but pointed out that otherwise, the town might face the prospect of multifamily development under the terms of the state’s Affordable Housing Appeals Act, otherwise known as “8-30g.”

Through that legal process, developers’ multifamily projects that have been rejected by the P&Z are submitted for court review, through which a judge may allow construction of a multifamily complex with a much larger number of dwellings than allowed by local zoning regulations.

Mr Benson said the town’s IH-10 zoning regulations would allow seven apartment buildings with a total of 210 dwellings to be constructed at the site. “We should encourage diversity in housing,” he said.

The P&Z then voted 4-to-1 to approve the seventh apartment building, with Ms Manville dissenting. Hillcrest Drive/Covered Bridge Road residents did not speak at the July 18 P&Z session, but had detailed their various objections to the zoning application in letters to The Newtown Bee in the weeks preceding the hearing.

The high construction density of the apartment complex was made possible by the town’s 2016 extension of the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system to the site. In February 2014, voters at a town meeting approved expanding the Hawleyville sewer system to stimulate economic development in that area.