Newtown Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) conducted a brief meeting to hear about proposed apartments for Mt Pleasant Road during its November 3 meeting.

P&Z members present were chair Dennis Bloom, vice chair Roy Meadows, Corrine Cox, Kersti Ferguson, Brian Leonardi, Connie Widmann, and David Rosen, as well as Land Use Agency Deputy Director of Planning Rob Sibley.

The two joint applications set to be presented by Farrell Building Company were Application 22.25, for a zone change located at 90 Mount Pleasant Road, to change the zone from M-2A to R-2; and Application 22.26 for a special exception located at 90 Mount Pleasant Road, to permit the construction of 220 rental apartments in 11 buildings with associated driveways, parking, and clubhouse.

The project was reviewed by Newtown Inland Wetlands Commission last summer, where multiple residents voiced concerns. Some even submitted notarized “Verified Petition to Intervene” documents. However, it was ultimately approved by the wetlands panel.

Farrell Building Company recently created apartments on Washington Avenue in Newtown.

During the November 3 meeting, Attorney Robert Hall represented the applicant.

“I wrote a letter earlier this week indicating that the company is in the process of making some changes,” Hall said. “I’m not going to speak to any merits tonight at all. I came to deliver the certification of the fact that we notified the landowners within 500 feet, and I’d like to submit that.”

He added, “And I’d like to inform the commission that one of the items that Farrell is working on is to eliminate one of the buildings and put parking in the footprint where the building is, so that when we present the application, you’ll see that the number of units proposed is 200 instead of 220 and the parking will go up from what it is now to what it will hold.”

Hall requested the public hearing be opened on November 3 but continued to the next P&Z meeting on Thursday, November 17.

“We filed an application with the Design Advisory Board, and they are we hope planning to meet on November 9, next week,” he concluded.

Intervenor Status

Bloom voiced that there have been discussions among the Land Use Agency and the commission about Newtown resident Pat Napolitano as an intervenor.

Napolitano submitted a petition for intervenor status and now the P&Z must vote to accept or deny it. The multiple-page application from Napolitano is attached to the November 3 meeting minutes.

Bloom read into the record that Napolitano’s petition, “does not contain specific factual allegations setting forth the nature of the alleged unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction of the public trust in air, water, or other natural resources of the state and is not sufficient to allow the reviewing authority to determine from the verified pleading whether the intervention implicates an issue within the reviewing authority’s jurisdiction.”

All agreed except for Meadows who abstained. Therefore, Napolitano’s petition for intervenor status for applications #22-25 and #22-26 was denied.

When a member of the public at the meeting voiced that they wanted to ask a question, Bloom said that there was no participation portion for the topic of intervenor voting.

“There is no more discussion on it,” Bloom repeated.

P&Z’s next regularly scheduled meeting is set to take place on Thursday, November 17, at 7 pm, in the Newtown Municipal Council Chambers.

To learn more about the P&Z, visit newtown-ct.gov/planning-zoning-commission.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.