Sandy Hook Center—

P&Z Approves Expanded SHDD Zoning On Riverside Road

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved a change of zone that expands the area of Sandy Hook Design District (SHDD) zoning in Sandy Hook Center, extending that zoning designation to what has been a residentially zoned property on Riverside Road.

Following a November 17 public hearing, P&Z members approved the change of zone from R-2 Residential to SHDD for 3.3 acres at 12 Riverside Road owned by Susan and George Oberstadt.

The property currently holds a house. The site is on the south side of Riverside Road, lying west of the town’s Multipurpose Center at 14 Riverside Road. The site abuts other land that has SHDD zoning. The property contains two parcels that comprise 3.3 acres. The land is in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD). The house on the site is not connected to the municipal sewer system.

Permitted uses within the SHDD zone include: retail stores, personal service establishments, banks, offices, restaurants, museums, galleries, meetings halls, places of religious worship, apartments that are located above businesses, single-family houses, bed-and-breakfast establishments, and publishing firms. SHDD zoning allows for two dwellings per building lot, provided that those dwellings are located above a commercial use.

Applicable special exception provisions of the zoning regulations would allow there to be four dwellings per acre, or a total of 13 multifamily dwellings on the site, provided that the dwellings are connected to sanitary sewers and those dwellings are located above commercial uses.

If the 3.3-acre site is redeveloped for some commercial use in the future, it is likely that the two lots would be merged into one lot.

A review of the property prepared for the applicant by engineer Alan Shepard found that if a hedge were removed from the site and regrading work was performed, the creation of a 250-foot sight line distance for motorists would be feasible. The existing dwelling on the site likely would need to be demolished if the property is to be redeveloped, according to Mr Shepard.

In a letter to the P&Z, Conservation Official Rob Sibley had urged that a complete environmental study be performed before any zone change is granted for the site, in view of the site’s presence within the environmentally sensitive APD.

At the November 17 public hearing, before the P&Z approved the rezoning request, Ms Oberstadt told P&Z members that the site is in an existing commercially developed area, adding that it is logical for the site to be rezoned for such uses.

“We’re an ‘island’ in the midst of commercial and municipal property,” she said.

“Our [residential] property is more suited to being in the design district at this time,” she said.

Ms Oberstadt said she has no specific plans for the future of the site. She said that she and her husband might redevelop the property, or might sell it.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland said that 12 Riverside Road would be a good property for SHDD zoning.

There was no public opposition to the Oberstadts’ rezoning application.

But in September, in response to stiff public opposition to the P&Z’s proposal to extend SHDD zoning to a section of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center to allow commercial uses in that area, P&Z members eventually rejected their own proposal.

At an August public hearing, Washington Avenue residents had made it clear to P&Z members that they want the existing R-2 zoning in their neighborhood remain in effect, opposing a P&Z proposal to convert that area to SHDD zoning, which allows a mixture of commercial and residential uses. R-2 zoning requires a minimum two-acre lot size for single-family house construction.