Date: Fri 03-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Avalon-Apartments-Hawleyville

Full Text:

Avalon Apartment Plan Hits A Snag Over Sewage Disposal

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Avalon Bay Communities, Inc, the developer which is seeking to build the

largest private residential complex ever proposed locally, has hit a sewage

disposal snag in its plans to develop a 40.7-acre site at 178 Mt Pleasant Road

in Hawleyville with 304 rental apartments, known as Avalon at Newtown.

That snag in obtaining sewage disposal capacity from the Water Pollution

Control Authority (WPCA) has resulted in Avalon seeking and getting

postponements of Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and Conservation

Commission public hearings which were scheduled on the development proposal

for September 2 and 8, respectively.

In order to make a 304-unit complex workable, Avalon must have sanitary sewer

service for the property. The firm wants to discharge the complex's sewage

into the planned Hawleyville municipal sewer system, which will transport

sewage via Bethel to the Danbury sewage treatment plant.

Avalon representatives appeared August 26 at a WPCA meeting to request

permission for such a plan.

Avalon estimates it needs sewage treatment capacity of approximately 69,000

gallons per day. Realizing that the town has an agreement to dispose of up to

only 150,000 gallons of Hawleyville wastewater daily at the Danbury treatment

plant, Avalon had offered to negotiate directly with the City of Danbury to

buy from Danbury the additional treatment capacity that would cover the

apartment complex's needs.

But the town and not Avalon would have to negotiate that waste disposal

agreement, according to Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

Unlike the town's central sewer system which was built to resolve

long-standing groundwater pollution problems caused by many failing

residential septic systems, the planned Hawleyville sewer system is designed

to spur economic development. Roughly 30,000 gallons of that 150,000

gallon-per-day capacity has been earmarked for the Homesteads at Newtown, a

298-unit housing complex for the elderly planned for a site adjacent to the

Avalon property. The Homesteads site, which lies in the Hawleyville sewer

district, has been designated an "economic development project" by the town.

However, most of the Avalon site lies outside the Hawleyville sewer district.

Also, it is unclear if the Avalon proposal constitutes an "economic

development project" for the purposes of extending sewer service.

Letter

In an August 27 letter to First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, WPCA Chairman

Richard Zang wrote that the Avalon proposal does not comply with Hawleyville's

sewer facilities plan or with a past Hawleyville transportation and economic

development study.

The WPCA will review Avalon's request for sewage treatment capacity after the

firm completes a study on how many housing units the site could support if

septic systems were used and also provides technical information on sewage

flow rates, according to Mr Zang.

"The Hawleyville (Sewer) Facilities Plan is intended to promote economic

development in Newtown. By this letter, we are requesting a recommendation

from your office, the community development director, the Economic Development

Commission, and the Planning and Zoning Commission as to whether this proposed

apartment complex is considered to be economic development," Mr Zang adds.

In an August 30 report to the town on the Avalon proposal, Fuss and O'Neill,

the town's consulting engineers, states that most of the Avalon site is

outside of the Hawleyville sewer district, with only one of 11 proposed

apartment buildings within the district.

"Should the town consider changing the wastewater management designation of

the Avalon site, there would be a need to purchase additional (sewage

treatment) capacity from both Danbury and Bethel and to modify the existing

intermunicipal agreements," according to the engineers.

The Fuss and O'Neill report on Avalon addresses traffic, internal roads,

parking, sidewalks, wastewater disposal, water supply, fire protection,

drainage, underground utilities and applicable zoning regulations.

Mark Forlenza, a senior development director for Avalon, said Wednesday, "We

want to work out any issues with sewer [service]."

It is unclear how long it will take for Avalon to secure the sewage treatment

capacity required for the proposed apartment complex, he said. "We need sewer

capacity for a multi-family project," he said.

"We're committed to this development, so it's just a matter of time. We are

committed to doing a development in Newtown," he said.

The WPCA, in effect, will be setting the pace for the project, Mr Forlenza

said.

Avalon is awaiting a report on the environmental effects of the development

proposal from the independent King's Mark Environmental Review Team, he said.

Avalon wants to build 228 market-rate and 76 affordable apartments in 11

multi-story buildings. The steep, rocky, heavily wooded site is across the

street from Cassio Kennels. The site is on the Bethel town line.

The complex would contain 124 one-bedroom, 110 two-bedroom and 70

three-bedroom apartments, for a total of 554 bedrooms. The complex would have

608 parking spaces, with the potential for up to 733 spaces.

While town officials acknowledge the need for affordable housing, they have

questioned the overall number of apartments which Avalon has proposed for the

Hawleyville site.