60 Units, Age-Restricted—

Developer Again Seeks Rezoning For Oakview Road Condo Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are considering a developer’s second request for a change of zone for an Oakview Road site, near Newtown High School, which, if granted, would allow planning to proceed for a 60-unit, age-restricted condominium complex.

Toll Brothers, Inc’s, request for a change of zone drew criticism and opposition from residents of the narrow, winding, hilly Oakview Road at a November 18 P&Z public hearing.

Last April, P&Z members had rejected Toll Brothers’ initial request for a change of zone from R-2 (Residential) to EH-10 (Elderly Housing) for the proposed condo complex, deciding that such a project would generate too much traffic for Oakview Road. At that time, Toll Brothers had proposed constructing 80 condo units, which would be a third more dwellings than are currently sought for the 51-acre site at 21 Oakview Road.

The April proposal had drawn strong opposition from Oakview Road residents, with the prime concern being traffic generated by a condo complex overburdening the narrow Oakview Road.

R-2 zoning is designated for single-family houses on lots of at least two acres. EH-10 zoning is intended for high-density, multifamily housing for people over age 55.

Toll Brothers wants to construct a housing complex that is architecturally similar to a project that the firm is now building on Route 25 in Trumbull, known as Regency Meadows at Trumbull. Oakview Road condos would have starting prices at $425,000.

The site overlooks the environmentally sensitive floodplain of the Pootatuck River and the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84. Condos would be built on an upper plateau, which is about 75 feet higher in elevation than a lower plateau on the site. About one-third of the site would be developed. The property has meadows and wooded areas, with sandy soils. The site is located in the town’s Aquifer Protection District, which is subject to strict environmental controls.

In its current proposal, Toll Brothers would build a driveway entrance to the complex on Oakview Road that would physically deter motorists entering and leaving the complex from using the southern section of Oakview Road. The proposed traffic design would instead shunt condo-generated traffic to the northern section of Oakview Road.

The traffic-flow design is intended to have condo motorists use the intersection of Oakview Road and Berkshire Road, instead of using the intersection of Oakview Road and Wasserman Way. The driveway entrance on Oakview Road would be about 300 feet from Oakview Road’s intersection with Berkshire Road. An emergency driveway entrance would be created farther to the south on Oakview Road.   

In addition to a change of zone, in order to build an age-restricted condo complex, Toll Brothers would need: a municipal sewer connection; zoning rule amendments to allow its architectural design to be built; a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z; a site development plan approval from the P&Z; a wetlands construction permit from the Conservation Commission, serving as the town’s inland wetlands agency; and an aquifer protection approval from the P&Z, based on an aquifer protection review conducted by the Conservation Commission.

 The P&Z public hearing on Toll Brothers’ requested change of zone is scheduled to resume at the P&Z’s December 2 meeting.

Public Comment

At the November 18 P&Z session, Richard Coburn of 141 Boggs Hill Road, president of the Newtown Residential Preservation Society, asked Toll Brothers representatives to produce some graphics showing the condo when completed. The complex would be visible from Wasserman Way and from the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84.

The society wants to keep the town a physically attractive place and it must remain on guard to prevent unattractive construction, Mr Coburn said. The society was formed in response to the Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut’s proposal to construct a 7,600-square-foot Buddhist temple at 145 Boggs Hill Road. The P&Z rejected the Buddhist temple proposal in early 2002. The Buddhists have appealed that rejection in court.

Mr Coburn voiced concerns that Toll Brothers has presented its condo proposal as a “conceptual” plan for developing the Oakview Road, rather than as a definite plan.

“We should know what the place will look like [before] it’s built,” Mr Coburn said.         

John Bickel of 17 Oakview Road said Toll Brothers’ proposal for a traffic structure to shunt traffic onto the northern end of Oakview Road is “not viable.”

“People drive wherever they want to, ignoring the ‘encouraged’ direction of travel,” he said. Oakview Road would be clogged with rush hour traffic if such a condo complex is built, he said. Traffic volumes in Sandy Hook Center also would worsen, he said. “Increased traffic on Oakview Road will increase the likelihood of a vehicle/pedestrian accident,” Mr Bickel said.

“Does Newtown really need this project, or are we being ‘sold’ this by a developer with a slick marketing presentation?” he asked.

“Do we really want Newtown to be developed, so it is as crowded as Danbury or Trumbull?” he asked. “I certainly hope not,” Mr Bickel added. “Please keep this development from ruining the character of Oakview Road,” he said.

Mr Bickel told P&Z members that he moved to Newtown two years from Westchester County, N.Y., get away from the congestion of that area.

Mr Bickel said he would prefer that the Oakview Road site serve as parkland, or alternately, if the property is to be developed, as the site for about a dozen single-family houses. Building 60 condos on the site would adversely affect the town, he said.

Michael McCaffrey of 15-A Oakview Road told P&Z members there would be no guarantee on motorists’ reaction to Toll Brothers’ proposed traffic design.

Such condo development would damage the town’s character, Mr McCaffrey said. He said he wishes that the site could be acquired and preserved as open space land. When the site is developed, wildlife will disappear from that area, he said.

Robert Emmerthal of 7 Oakview Road said that the residents in the 12 existing houses on Oakview Road now have about 30 motor vehicles. Adding 60 condos to the street would translate into another 120 vehicles there, he said. Adding that many vehicles to the area would make it difficult to ride bicycles on the street, he said.

Mr Emmerthal also questioned the potential effectiveness of the proposed traffic design.

Mr Emmerthal said that if the property is developed, he would prefer having a dozen single-family houses there rather than 60 condos.

“I don’t think anybody from the Police Commission lives on my street,” Mr Emmerthal said in reference to that agency’s recent endorsement of the developer’s traffic design for the project.

 Mr Emmerthal pointed out that if the project is built, the view from Fairfield Hills would include 60 condominiums nearby. “You can’t hide something that’s that big. It’s going to be visible,” he said.

 

Developer’s Response

Attorney Robert Hall, representing Toll Brothers, told P&Z members, “Give us an opportunity to get to the point where we can show you the specifics” of the condo project.

Building 12 houses on the site would consume more land area than would 60 condos, he said.

P&Z member Jane Brymer said she would be concerned about the flow of construction traffic on Oakview Road during the complex’s construction.

Gregory Kamedulski of Toll Brothers said the firm would sell approximately 30 condos per year, meaning that construction would occur over a two-year period. A construction manager would work on the site and would manage the flow of construction vehicles on Oakview Road, he said.

P&Z member Robert Poulin said the traffic-control structure proposed for the condo complex driveway would create a 60-degree intersection and appears “dangerous,” he said.

Such a device, however, is the most effective way to manage traffic flow on the street, Mr Hall said.

If Toll Brothers receives its requested change of zone, the company would then make some specific engineering calculations about traffic control for the condo complex, Mr Kamedulski said.  

P&Z member Robert Mulholland asked whether the firm has considered using some other site in town for its proposed complex, in inquiring whether a low purchase price of the Oakview Road is what is driving the development proposal.

Mr Kamedulski said that there is much land remaining to be developed in Newtown, but added that many parcels are distant from major roadways. The people over age 55 who would live in such a condo complex want to live near major roads, he said.

“We think this [site] makes a lot of sense for EH-10 [housing],” he said. The site also has access to public sanitary sewers and public water utilities, he noted.

The Water and Sewer Authority has told Toll Brothers that it would negotiate with the firm to provide sewer service to the site if the company secures the various land use approvals required for such a project.

Bruce Hoben, a planning consultant for Toll Brothers, told P&Z members that area demographic projections indicate there would be “a very robust market” for such development.

P&Z member Sten Wilson said, however, that some of the residents of the proposed complex would move from existing homes in Newtown, which would then be acquired by families with school-age children, who would require public education.

In that light, Mr Mulholland questioned such a project’s property tax revenue benefits to the town.

Mr Wilson pointed out that local EH-10 housing complexes tend to be heavy users of local ambulance services.

P&Z member Lilla Dean questioned the value of installing a traffic structure on Oakview Road to shunt traffic to the northern end of that street.

“There are several places where I travel, where people pay absolutely no attention” to such traffic devices, she said.

“Unless you put an armed guard there, people are going to do what they want to do,” she said. “I think this is ‘pie in the sky’ in terms of what people do,” she said. People would make three-point turns on Oakview Road to defeat a traffic control structure, she said.

Mr Mulholland asked how a 60-unit condo complex would appear to motorists driving by on eastbound I-84. He asked that the firm produce a rendering of such a complex as viewed from I-84.

Engineer Tom Daly, representing Toll Brothers, said a stand of evergreen trees would serve as a visual buffer between the complex and the highway.

“Where you’re looking to build this, it’s quite loud,” Mr Mulholland said.

Ms Dean said condo complex residents may be annoyed by traffic noise on the highway.

Mr Walton said the firm would formally disclose to potential condo buyers that the site is near an interstate highway.

Mr Hall said that if the firm receives its requested zone change, it would seek to modify the zoning regulations to allow two-story housing in EH-10 complexes. Currently, living space in such housing complexes is restricted to one level.

Mr Wilson suggested that the firm reduce the number of condos to some figure less than 60.

Mr Hall though responded the proposal calls for 60 condos.

Mr Daly said 60 units is fewer units than the previously proposed 80 condos, adding that 60 units would fit better on the site than would 80 units.

“The site is ideally suited for this particular type of development,” Mr Hall told P&Z members.

Besides the Oakview Road proposal, Toll Brothers is seeking town approvals for a proposed 104-unit, age-restricted condo complex that it envisions for 79 Church Hill Road. That 35-acre site is near the Exit 10 off-ramp of westbound Interstate 84. The Toll Brothers’ 104-unit condo complex would lie across Walnut Tree Hill Road from the 189-unit, age-restricted Walnut Tree Village condo complex.