Date: Fri 26-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SUPERE

Quick Words:

Dodgingtown-P&Z-Murtha

Full Text:

Dodgingtown Subdivision Plans Raises Neighbor Concerns About Traffic

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Residents living near a Dodgingtown site proposed for 10 new houses have told

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members that an already hazardous traffic

area would be made more hazardous by the development.

Newtown Development Group, LLC, is proposing Pinnacle Ridge for a 14-acre

parcel on Route 302. The parcel is bounded on the north and east by the Rock

Ridge Country Club golf course and on the south and west by Route 302. The

developers want to build a 650-foot-long, dead-end street, called Pinnacle

Drive, to serve the development. The street would run roughly parallel to the

driveway that serves the golf course.

Land engineer Larry Edwards, representing Newtown Development Group, said the

subdivision would contain three one-acre rear house lots which would be served

by long driveways. An open space area would be situated on the west side of

the parcel, across Route 302 from George's Pizza and Restaurant.

The Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P) sold 11 acres of the 14-acre

parcel earlier this year to Mary Ann Murtha and Beverly Setz for the

development project. The state Department of Public Utility Control endorsed

the sale of the CL&P land which CL&P considered surplus property.

The principals in Newtown Development Group are Thomas and Mary Ann Murtha of

Boggs Hill Road and Beverly and Jim Setz of Poverty Hollow Road.

Mark Danuszar of Westport, who owns property on Floral Heights Road, said

Route 302 in the area of the proposed development is a "speedway" which has

been the site of many accidents in recent years due to its hazardous nature.

Route 302 in the area makes a sharp, banked curve between Rock Ridge Road and

the pizza restaurant.

Paula Moliver of 1 Floral Heights Road termed the roadway in the area "a very

dangerous intersection in good weather, let alone bad weather." At a July 18

public hearing on the development proposal, Ms Moliver presented P&Z members

with a list of police reports concerning 30 accidents with injuries which

occurred on Route 302 between Rock Ridge Road and the area of the restaurant

between May 1989 and May 1996. Ms Moliver submitted a petition to the P&Z

bearing the names of people opposed to the development project.

Rosemarie Gollenberg of Taunton Hill Road, a former president of Newtown

Housing for the Elderly (NHE), said the elderly housing organization reviewed

the development potential of the site in the past but rejected it due to

traffic concerns.

In 1994, developer Harvey Gerber, a former member of the Local Housing

Partnership, sought to build affordable housing on the site, but plans for the

project fell through.

Kenneth Moliver of 1 Floral Heights Road objected to another road being built

in the area, saying to do so would result in a five-way intersection along a

hazardous section of Route 302. Due to hazardous road conditions, the country

club only allows traffic to enter the club from Route 302, he said. Traffic

exits from the club onto Rock Ridge Road.

"This is dangerous enough," Mr Moliver said of traffic in the area. "We don't

want to add to the dangers," he said.

Christie Mahmood of 3 Floral Heights Road told P&Z members that the danger of

traffic flow in the area must be considered when reviewing the development

proposal.

Penny Meek of Butterfield Road objected to the proposed presence of a

stormwater detention basin on the site, saying it would pose problems. Such

structures are used to detain water on the property after heavy rainfalls, so

that the water can slowly be released into off-site drainage systems. Such

basins are used to prevent erosion and sedimentation problems.

Isabel Murray of Ridge Road said if police spent more time checking for

speeders in the area, maybe speeding wouldn't be such a problem there. Ms

Murray said she favors the construction proposal.

Ingrid McCauley of Rock Ridge Road also spoke favorably of the Pinnacle Ridge

proposal. "I really don't think this is a bad idea. We could create a

'village' in Dodgingtown. We need some new thinking. We need something besides

mega-houses," she said.

New housing at Pinnacle Ridge could be the genesis of a more

community-oriented Dodgingtown in which people walk and bicycle to local

facilities, she said.

Paul Berger of Rock Ridge Road asked what impact drilling 10 new wells would

have on existing domestic water wells in the area. Mr Berger said the

developers should keep an area buffered with trees between the golf course and

the proposed new houses. He suggested that the developers build fewer than 10

houses.

Robert Danuszar of Route 302 said he lives directly across the street from the

development site, noting that it's a dangerous traffic area. Newtown is

becoming a crowded place, he observed. "Putting up more houses is a waste, a

waste of the land," he said.

Mr Edwards' the developers' land engineer, responded to the issues raised by

the nearby residents.

The road proposed for the subdivision would have the best sight lines possible

for a development on the 14-acre parcel, he said. The sight lines at the

driveway entrance would extend 500 feet to the west and 620 feet to the east

on Route 302, he said.

Water run-off from the parcel would discharge in a westerly direction and

enter the state's storm sewer drainage system, he said. A stormwater detention

basin on the site would only contain water after storms, according to Mr

Edwards.

Mr Edwards added that if the project is approved, the developers would seek to

re-subdivide one lot on the parcel in the future, resulting in a total of 11

lots. Such a re-subdivision would require a wetlands construction permit from

the Conservation Commission.

The P&Z is expected to act on the Pinnacle Ridge proposal at an upcoming

meeting.