Each year, Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) considers numerous applications and proposals, deciding if they are in line with the plan of conservation and development.

Some applications are quickly and unanimously decided during one meeting, such as the recent native plants text amendments from the Conservation Commission that was approved on December 2. While others are evaluated over the course of multiple meetings with residents voicing their opinions on the proposed project.

January was a busy month for the commission with public hearings. One application that gained attention in the community, especially with Sandy Hook residents from the area, was for the Holly Estates Subdivision.

The applicant sought to create a cul-de-sac road with a 16-lot residential subdivision for 15 single family homes located at 203 and 211 Berkshire Road (Route 34). At the time, the 73.2-acre parcel was a mixture of forest, old fields, and currently farmed fields that supported a variety of wildlife.

The commission brought up safety concerns, including P&Z member Roy Meadows, who said, “There’s some real problems with the road coming out at that point there. It may meet all the DOT regulations and everything, but I think we have to be concerned about the citizens of Newtown.”

The public hearing continued at the commission’s next meeting, as reported in “P&Z Approves Holly Estates Subdivision On Berkshire Road,” published January 29.

At both meetings — and the Inland Wetlands Commission meetings that took place the year prior — residents voiced their concerns over the subdivision’s negative impact on wetlands, wildlife, and the water table.

However, after more discussion with Larry Edwards, of Edwards Associates, who was representing the application, the commission decided to unanimously approve the project.

Another application that caught the public’s attention this year pertained to housing at Fairfield Hills Campus.

The related application was submitted by the Newtown Board of Selectmen, for a text amendment to Newtown’s Zoning Regulations to allow rental residential housing in up to two of the existing campus buildings with a special exception, according to the agenda.

When P&Z member Barbara Manville inquired if there are developers with “serious interest” in the property now, Land Use Agency Director of Planning George Benson said yes, that people have come to them and there seems to be a movement now with people wanting to renovate old buildings.

After much discussion, updates to the proposal, and public input with impassioned perspectives for and against, the commission passed the text amendment with four members in favor and one against.

Later in the year, P&Z reviewed two applications pertaining to a drive-through window at the Mobil gas station on Church Hill Road near Exit 10.

Application 21.21 was for two text amendments to the Zoning Regulations of the Town of Newtown, so as to add a subsection “(e) combination filling station and convenience stores permitted by §4.03.317 with drive-through facilities” and to add a subsection “(g) except as permitted in the Exit 10 Commercial Design District.”

The second was Application 21.22 for a special exception, for a property at 62-64 Church Hill Road, so as to permit a drive-through window as demonstrated on a set of plans titled, “Sundaram LLC Newtown Mobil Station 62-64 Church Hill Road Newtown, CT 06470.”

Some commission members expressed concerns over traffic, the spacing logistics on the property, parking spaces, number of uses for the business, and what could be sold through the Dunkin Donuts window.

The public also brought up concerns regarding a drive-through window in town and how it would add to changing the character of the town.

When the commission first voted on Application 21.21, on October 7, it was unanimously opposed. The applicant then made amendments to the applications and brought it back to the P&Z to review on November 4. It was again unanimously denied.

Most recently, the P&Z reviewed three applications for creating a three-story apartment building at 35 South Main Street, which is a residential property next to Chintz-N-Prints and across the street from Modzelewski’s Towing & Recovery Inc.

Residents attended its first public hearing, on December 2, voicing concerns about its negative impact on traffic, light pollution, and the water table, as reported in “P&Z Continues Apartment Applications, Green-Lights Native Plants Regulation,” published December 15.

Newtown resident Carol Ando said, “It seems to me in the town now, we are changing zoning to suit the builders. There are apartments going up everywhere. I think apartments are ruining neighborhoods. There’s gridlock in town already anywhere you go in Newtown … I feel the nature of Newtown is changing, because we change the zoning to suit the builder. Why have zoning if we don’t stick to what is zoned?”

The P&Z agreed to continue discussing the apartment applications at its January 6, 2022, meeting.

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