Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Riverview-affordable

Full Text:

Riverview Condos Complete Their Glide Through Land Use Review

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved Riverview Condominiums,

a 49-unit housing complex planned to contain 13 units of "affordable housing"

on the section of Washbrook Road behind Sand Hill Plaza.

P&Z members unanimously approved issuing R&G Riverview Associates, LLC, a

special exception to the zoning regulations on a 16.5-acre section of the

18.7-acre site at an October 16 session.

The relatively swift approval of the 49-unit Riverview complex comes in

contrast to the P&Z's protracted consideration of the controversial Newtown

Village, a 98-unit condominium complex which has been proposed for Route 34

near Interstate 84 in Sandy Hook. The developers of Newtown Village have

proposed that 24 of the 98 units be designated as affordable housing.

Riverview's developers intend to build a total of 98 bedrooms in the planned

49-unit complex, while Newtown Village's developers would build 264 bedrooms

in the 98-unit project. In the Newtown Village project, 72 units would have

three bedrooms each, and the remaining 24 units would have two bedrooms each.

In approving Riverview, P&Z members are requiring its developers to meet some

conditions.

The P&Z wants United Water to certify it will be able to serve the complex

with an adequate public water supply. The developers are being required to

post signs indicating that vehicle parking is not allowed on the side of the

complex's street nearest the condos.

Also, the developers are being required to meet a variety of fire safety

recommendations which were made as a result of an independent study on

firefighting requirements at the site.

Also, the P&Z is requiring the developers to submit more detailed landscaping

plans for the site than have been submitted.

In deciding on the Riverview proposal, P&Z members considered comments made at

an October 2 public hearing.

P&Z member Daniel Rosenthal said the Riverview plan is "truly in the spirit of

our affordable housing regulations.... The plan is very well laid out." He

termed the land "a nice site, a nice piece of property."

The type of affordable housing proposed by the developers represents the type

of project the P&Z had in mind in formulating its affordable housing rules, he

said.

The conventional community septic system for the project is well-engineered,

he said, adding that the development density is appropriate for the site.

During a public hearing on Riverview earlier this month, P&Z members heard

only positive comments and received only positive letters about the

construction project.

When Riverview's developers were seeking a road work agreement with the

selectmen recently, the selectmen received a petition from area residents

opposed to the developers' plans to extend an emergency accessway to the site

to Cold Spring Road in light of its proximity to Middle Gate School. The

developers gained the selectmen's approval for building the emergency

accessway, provided that a locked gate is installed to prevent its routine

use.

Most of the Riverview site is wooded. A section of it which had been proposed

for a nursing home in 1991 contains a large concrete foundation that must be

removed to prepare the land for condo construction. The construction proposal

calls for the removal of 12,000 cubic yards of material from the site.

The annual family income ceiling for a family of four to buy an affordable

condo would be $48,640. That annual income ceiling might change based upon

when the units are built.

Affordable units must be owner-occupied. Regulations require that affordable

condos remain "affordable" as defined by the state for at least 30 years.

The price of an affordable condo would be roughly $146,600. The 36 other

condos would be priced higher, perhaps in the $200,000 range.

In a housing complex with such high construction densities, the market value

units subsidize the price of the affordable units.

Affordable condos will be scattered throughout the complex and wouldn't be

recognizable from the street. Affordable units will be smaller than

market-value condos.

The complex will contain two two-unit buildings, three three-unit buildings,

and nine four-unit buildings.

Site plans depict the 14 contemporary buildings arrayed in semicircle

overlooking a large lawn and the Pootatuck River. A spur of buildings would

extend off the semicircle away from the river.