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Commission May Act On Newtown Village Plan Feb. 3

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Conservation Commission members have scheduled a special meeting for February

3 at which they plan to review and possibly act on the controversial Newtown

Village, a proposed 102-house development planned for 32 acres off Berkshire

Road in Sandy Hook.

The session is slated for 8 pm at the Town Hall South conference room, 3 Main

Street. The meeting will mark the seventh time commission members have

addressed the Newtown Village application. The deadline for action on the

application is February 12.

Commission members will determine if applicants for the project meet town

criteria concerning crossing an intermittent watercourse with a driveway; road

construction; stormwater management and detention; the creation of wetlands;

and the installation of bio-filters.

Commission members will be addressing three environmental concerns when

deciding on the development project. They are: the effects of drainage

discharge into Curtis Brook off the site; the effects of drainage discharge

into wetlands on the site; and the effect of a road crossing over an

intermittent watercourse on the site.

The Sandy Hook Neighborhood Coalition has urged the developers of the proposed

Newtown Village to scale down their 102-house proposal to 30 houses, or no

houses at all.

In their Conservation Commission application, D&H Homes, LLC, of New Milford,

and Fairfield 2000 Homes, Corp, of Stamford, seek approval for wetlands

construction work in connection with building 102 houses, 25 of which would be

designated as "affordable." The complex would be the town's first affordable

housing development.

The development site is a former sand-and-gravel mine in the area bounded by

Berkshire Road, Bishop Circle, Philo Curtis Road, and the eastbound on-ramp at

Exit 11 of Interstate 84.

At public hearing earlier this month, Attorney Francis Collins, representing

the coalition, said Newtown Village would have negative environmental effects

on Curtis Brook, the Pootatuck Aquifer, area groundwater and domestic well

water quality. The development site lies within the town's sole source aquifer

protection area.

Mr Collins argued the scope of wetlands construction activities regulated by

the Conservation Commission is much broader than the applicant has portrayed.

In response to the coalition's claims, Attorney Timothy Hollister,

representing the developers, said the opponents did not present any

engineer-supported evidence to substantiate their claims. The applicants have

used the services of professional engineers, he said.

The developers want to build detached housing ranging in sizes from 1,300 to

2,200 square feet to be marketed in the $140,000 to $200,000 price range. The

"market value homes," priced closer to $200,000, would subsidize the

"affordable homes" priced nearer $140,000, thus giving the developers a

financial incentive to build the "affordable housing." A state law encourages

developers to build housing complexes in which at least 25 percent of the

homes are designated for moderate-income families.

If the Conservation Commission grants the Newtown Village applicants a

wetlands construction license, the applicants would then seek approval for the

project from P&Z.