Date: Fri 14-Feb-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Wedgewood-wetland

Full Text:

Wedgewood Application For Wetlands Approval Withdrawn

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

M&E Land Group has withdrawn its Conservation Commission application for

wetlands construction work at a scaled-back version of its proposed Wedgewood

residential subdivision off Taunton Hill Road.

The developers' withdrawal came Wednesday night after the Conservation

Commission received a petition from Taunton Hill area residents seeking a

formal public hearing on the application. The proposal pending before the

commission had been a "short form" application.

M&E's proposal involved creating 13 lots on 27 acres. The developers wanted

approval to discharge stormwater into a wetland area and cross a wetland with

a driveway.

The withdrawal came because the developers did not want to spend a protracted

period seeking town land use approvals for the 13-lot project.

Opponents of Newtown Village, a 102-house development proposed for Sandy Hook

repeatedly sought to delay Conservation Commission action on wetlands work

proposed for that project. The Newtown Village proposal, which was submitted

in September, gained Conservation Commission approval February 3, after seven

commission meetings on the application.

M&E Land Group recently sued the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) over

P&Z's December rejection of a 15-lot version of Wedgewood. P&Z members said

the 15-lot development would cause drainage problems in the area.

M&E is now expected to seek approval for the 15-lot version through the

lawsuit, rather than pursuing a 13-lot version through town land use agencies.

The Conservation Commission had approved wetlands construction work for the

15-lot version of Wedgewood last year before P&Z rejected subdividing the

land.

In the lawsuit now pending in Danbury Superior Court, Attorney Robert Hall,

representing M&E, claims P&Z acted illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of the

discretion vested in it in rejecting the 15-lot proposal. In reaching its

decision, P&Z misapplied a law concerning drainage traveling off the

development site to an adjacent property owner's land, the lawyer claims.

Thomas Maguire of Golden Pond Road and Larry Edwards of Easton are general

partners in the M&E partnership which acquires raw land, subdivides it, and

then sells the building lots to home builders.

Wedgewood was among the most controversial residential development projects

submitted to P&Z during the past year, with discussion of the proposal running

from last August to December.

Before P&Z's vote to reject the 15-lot Wedgewood, P&Z members recommended to

the developers that an independent environmental expert be hired to analyze

the potential effects of Wedgewood. But the developers did not agree, instead

preferring that the P&Z make a decision on the development application at that

time.

A main concern expressed by nearby residents at P&Z sessions was that creating

Wedgewood would deplete their domestic well water supplies. Taunton Hill Road

residents told P&Z members they strongly oppose the development because it

also would overcrowd the area, cause drainage problems, and create added

traffic hazards.

The site eyed for development is on the east side of Taunton Hill Road, just

west of Cannon Drive. Cannon Drive is a dead end street that extends westward

from Birch Hill Road toward Taunton Hill Road.