P&Z Approves

Seven-Lot Brookheights Subdivision

By Andrew Gorosko

Almost five years after the initial mapping for the controversial Brookheights residential subdivision was drawn, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved the seven-lot development for a steep, rugged 29-acre site overlooking Pond Brook, near Obtuse Road and Pond Brook Road.

The P&Z approved the development application from Brookheights, LLC, at a November 4 session, in response to a Danbury Superior Court judge’s August decision on a court appeal filed by the developers. The developers had challenged the P&Z’s April 2003 rejection of the Brookheights project.

The project encountered a variety of delays during the past several years, involving environmental, technical, and legal issues. Raffie Aryeh and Jay Keillor are the developers.

The project drew stiff opposition from some residents living in the area, based on their environmental concerns. The development projects calls for construction of a reinforced concrete bridge spanning Pond Brook, a stream that occasionally floods. Pond Brook is a trout stream that carries water from Taunton Pond to the Housatonic River.

In its lawsuit, Brookheights, LLC, claimed that the P&Z rejected the development application even though the proposal conformed to the town’s land use regulations.

In their April 2003 rejection of Brookheights proposal, P&Z members explained their reasons for turning down the project.

P&Z members had decided that the land to be subdivided has many environmental constraints, plus historic qualities. “The presence of steep slopes and poorly-draining soils, Pond Brook, the 100-year floodplain, [an] old railbed, and evidence of historic factors [on the site] are considered to be assets of a community nature,” P&Z members then decided.

The developers had submitted a revised version of the Brookheights proposal to the P&Z in the summer of 2002, just before the P&Z’s rules on the calculation of house lot sizes became stricter. Those revised rules exclude from lot size calculations the presence of wetlands and steep slopes. If the developers had applied to develop the Brookheights site under those stricter revised regulations, fewer building lots would have been allowed on the site.

P&Z members have said they approved the stricter lot size calculations to enhance the remaining rural character of the community by balancing development and conservation concerns. P&Z members had decided that those rule changes would enhance land conservation and the protection of Newtown’s natural resources by requiring that lots have an adequate land area that is relatively level and dry to allow the construction of homes, septic waste disposal systems, and domestic water wells.

Conditions Of Approval

In approving the Brookheights project on November 4, P&Z members set several conditions on the construction work.

The developers must file a performance bond for $590,805 to ensure that all planned construction work is completed. Of that amount, $555,000 would cover the construction of the subdivision road and the reinforced concrete bridge that spans Pond Brook. Installation of an underground water storage tank for firefighting would be bonded at $30,000.

Also, the designated open space areas on the site must be permanently field marked before any building permits are issued for the project.

All public access easements on all building lots must be trailblazed and permanently field marked. Such markings allow potential homeowners and the general public to know the locations of public access easements and trails.

Property deeds must contain descriptions of easements. Easement areas are open to pedestrians, equestrians, and bicyclists, but not to motorized vehicles.

Also, the P&Z is requiring the developers to preserve as many of the stonewalls on the site as possible.