Date: Fri 22-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

WPCA-Newtown-Village-sewer

Full Text:

WPCA Skeptical About Newtown Village Sewage Plans

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The developers of Newtown Village, a proposed 96-house complex in Sandy Hook,

are urging that the town allow the installation of a small-scale sewage

treatment plant at the development site near Interstate 84.

Engineer Michael Petti, of Stearns and Wheler, LLC, of Darien, representing

the developers, told Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) members August

14 the town's existing zoning regulations prevent the developers from building

a small-scale sewage treatment plant that would discharge treated wastewater

into the ground.

Mr Petti urged WPCA members to encourage the Planning and Zoning Commission

(P&Z) to approve a zoning amendment now being sought by the developers to

allow small treatment plants.

The developers had sought WPCA approval earlier this year to extend a sewer

line to the proposed complex, but the WPCA turned down that request.

Existing zoning regulations state that if sewers aren't available at such a

development site, only a "community" septic system is allowable. Such a system

uses conventional septic system technology to dispose of wastewater from many

residences.

The developers want to drain the wastewater from Newtown Village houses down

to a sewage pumping station. The pumping station would push the sewage uphill

to a small-scale sewage treatment plant where nitrogen pollutants would be

extracted. The wastewater would then be discharged into leaching fields for

underground disposal.

WPCA member Gary Sheehan asked Mr Petti if the developers could reduce the

number of houses proposed for the site and increase the size of the leaching

fields, so that a small sewage treatment plant wouldn't be needed.

Mr Petti stressed the proposal pending before the P&Z is for 96 houses, not

some lesser number.

In order to meet all state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) waste

disposal requirements for nitrogen removal, a sewage treatment plant is

needed, Mr Petti said.

"In order for `affordable housing' to be `affordable,' there's a density bonus

involved," he stressed.

Because the applicants seek to develop the land under the zoning regulations

on affordable housing, they receive a "density bonus" which would allow them

to build four houses per acre, rather than the one house per acre that's

allowed by the site's R-1 Acre zoning.

An affordable housing project won't be economically viable with less than four

houses per acre on the buildable section of the site, Mr Petti said.

Developmental Dilemma

Mr Petti explained how the treatment plant dilemma creates a developmental

stumbling block for the applicants.

On one hand, the DEP requires its waste disposal rules to be met, especially

the reduction of nitrogen compounds in wastewater, he said.

But on the other hand, the town is saying the developers can't build a small

sewage treatment plant which is needed to resolve the nitrogen disposal

problem, he said.

"I'm caught between a rock and a hard place and something's got to give for

this site," Mr Petti said.

He described the site as an excellent place for subsurface waster disposal.

"It just doesn't get any better than this (land) when it comes to on-site

(waste) disposal," he said, noting the land has an abundance of sand, gravel

and cobbles.

But WPCA member Richard Zang stressed that WPCA members support the zoning

regulations on wastewater disposal as they are now written.

"We need a (treatment) device," Mr Petti responded, reminding the WPCA that

the town's zoning regulations infringe on the DEP's review of the Newtown

Village application.

The town's sewer avoidance program is the key to the situation, Mr Zang said.

The sewer avoidance program seeks to prevent the extension of sewer lines to

areas not within the sewer district.

WPCA member Alan Shepard said if the WPCA were to recommend that the town

allow small sewage treatment plants, and the zoning regulations are changed

accordingly, such small treatment plants would be built all across town.

"You're on the edge here, and I think you're crossing over the line," Mr Petti

told WPCA members.

"You have a duty to deal with water pollution control," Mr Petti said, adding

the WPCA shouldn't be in the business of land use control.

Mr Sheehan explained the town doesn't want to get into a position in which it

becomes financially liable for a small, failing sewage treatment plant in the

future. "We don't want to become responsible if this (plant) fails and there's

a pollution problem," he said.

WPCA member Carl Zencey asked whether the town's zoning regulations could be

modified to allow small sewage treatment plants to be built only to resolve

nitrogen disposal problems.

The existing zoning regulations preventing small treatment plants at

developments isn't a reasonable restriction, Mr Petti said.

He suggested creating regulations to allow subsurface disposal of water in

such complexes, but not specifying the technical means to do so, in effect,

not prohibiting small sewage treatment plants.

"We really can't act on this tonight," WPCA Chairman Peter Alagna told Mr

Petti.

D&H Homes, LLC, of New Milford and Fairfield 2000 Homes Corporation of

Stamford want to build Newtown Village at the site of a former sand and gravel

mine bordered on the west by the Exit 11 entrance ramp to Interstate 84, on

the northeast by Philo Curtis Road, on the south by Route 34, and on the

southeast by Bishop Circle. The site was used as a surface mine 25 years ago

during the construction of I-84. The applicants have options to buy the three

parcels comprising the 31.7-acre site. The complex would have private roads.

After the developers concluded their presentation on Newtown Village at an

August 7 P&Z public hearing, Mr Alagna spoke.

The developers' request to allow a small sewage treatment plant seeks to

eliminate an important aspect of the town's zoning regulations, Mr Alagna then

said. WPCA members share water quality goals with the DEP, he said.

If the P&Z amends its regulations to allow construction of a small treatment

plant, the WPCA will not support it, he said.

Mr Alagna invited Mr Petti to the August 14 WPCA meeting to present his case

for allowing such plants.

The P&Z is slated to resume its hearing on Newtown Village at 8 pm August 28

at Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen Street.