Date: Fri 24-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Homesteads-public-hearing

Full Text:

Public Comments On Homesteads Housing Project Plan

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Conservation Commission members are considering a proposal to build 300 units

of age-restricted housing on a 60-acre site off Mt Pleasant Road in

Hawleyville.

The proposal was the subject of an April 22 public hearing.

Several Hawleyville residents say they believe such a development is a

positive one for their lightly developed section of town, but they question

the developer's proposal to extend an emergency accessway to Pocono Road, a

narrow, deteriorated road that links Mt Pleasant Road to Old Hawleyville Road.

Resident Charlie Merrifield of 26 Pocono Road told the developers they are

going to hear from concerned residents when the construction proposal surfaces

at a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing in the future.

Pocono Road residents say they fear that extending an accessway for emergency

vehicles from The Homesteads at Newtown to Pocono Road will eventually have

negative effects on their lives due to increased traffic on the run-down road.

The Tolls of 4 Pocono Road expressed concerns about the project.

Sue Toll noted that the site where the developers want to build has been for

sale on the real estate market for many years. The age-restricted housing

proposal is as good a proposal for the land as any that has been proposed, she

said.

Mrs Toll said she wants the "tree line" between her property and the

development site to remain intact to provide visual buffering.

Wolcott Toll, Mrs Toll's husband, noted he owns 21 acres adjacent to the

development site. He urged that the tree line be kept intact. He asked that a

20-foot to 30-foot buffer line be left between the Toll property and the

development.

The developers' agents assured the Tolls and Mr Merrifield that their concerns

will be addressed.

Resident Katherine Maguire of Pocono Road asked that the proposed Pocono Road

emergency accessway be repositioned so that it has a minimal effect on Pocono

Road residents.

Again, the developers' agents assured her they will consider her request.

The developers explained they plan to install material at the proposed

accessway, which would obscure the fact there is a road there.

The paving material is a concrete grid that is strong enough to allow fire

trucks to travel on it but is punctuated with openings which allow turf to

grow up through the openings, obscuring the fact that concrete is there, the

agents explained. Such a paving system is in use for overflow parking at

Westfarms, a shopping mall that straddles the West Hartford-Farmington town

line.

Conservation Commission chairman Donald Lawrenson told representatives of The

Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, that the commission wants a final and perfected

version of the development proposal for its review before taking action on the

requested wetlands construction permit.

The developers had shown commission members plans that were subject to change,

and thus not complete. The developers had met with town technical staff

members recently to iron out details of the development proposal.

In the coming weeks, town technical staff members will review large-scale maps

of the project and erosion control plans.

The Conservation Commission, in its capacity as the town's Inland Wetlands and

Watercourses Commission, continued the public hearing to May 13.

On March 19, the Planning and Zoning Commission swiftly approved a zone change

requested by The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, thus letting the development

group proceed with detailed development planning on its proposed 300-unit

complex.

Applicant Dr Morton Silberstein received a change of zone for about 60 acres

off Mt Pleasant Road from the P&Z, altering that land's development

designation from (R-1) and (R-2) Residential to (EH-10) Elderly Housing.

The project now requires a wetlands construction permit from the Conservation

Commission and a special exception to the zoning regulations for a site

development plan from the P&Z.

In his application pending before the Conservation Commission, Dr Silberstein

wants permission to place clean earthen fill along the edge of some wetlands,

install two stormwater culverts, build a stormwater retention basin, and

stabilize four areas along a streambank to accommodate the grading associated

with the construction of roadways on the site.

Most of the site is a vacant former gravel mine. The property is north of Mt

Pleasant Road, south of Old Hawleyville Road and Interstate 84, east of the

Bethel town line, and west of Pocono Road. Most of the site lies to the north,

northeast, and northwest of Grace Christian Fellowship and Newtown

Professional Building.

The complex would include 100 assisted-living units, which are for the elderly

needing the highest level of care; 160 congregate-housing units within a

76,000-square-foot building for those requiring less care; and 40

independent-living apartments in duplexes for the elderly requiring even

lower-care levels.