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P&Z To Continue Public Hearing On Newtown Village Project

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Newtown Village, the controversial proposal to build 96 houses in Sandy Hook,

will be discussed at the third installment of a Planning and Zoning Commission

(P&Z) public hearing Wednesday, September 24.

The P&Z is scheduled to resume the public hearing at 8 pm at Newtown Middle

School auditorium, 11 Queen Street. A 7:30 pm P&Z business meeting will

precede the hearing.

The P&Z held an August 28 public hearing to field comments about the Newtown

Village proposal, which had been explained by the applicants at an August 7

hearing.

At the September 24 hearing, the developers are expected to rebut the many

criticisms raised by residents at the August 28 session.

Opponents of Newtown Village have called for P&Z members to reject the

proposed condominium complex, citing concerns over excavation, traffic, noise,

property values, the character of the neighborhood, and increased demands for

public services.

The developers want to build 96 single-family houses, 24 of which would be

designated as "affordable housing." The houses would be sold as condominium

units under the terms of a "common interest ownership community."

D&H Homes, LLC, of New Milford and Fairfield 2000 Homes Corporation of

Stamford want to build Newtown Village at the 32-acre site of a former

sand-and-gravel mine bordered on the west by the Exit 11 entrance ramp to

Interstate-84, on the northeast by Philo Curtis Road, on the south by Route

34, and on the southeast by Bishop Circle. Vehicle access to the site would be

from Route 34. The site was used as a surface mine 25 years ago during the

construction of I-84.

In their application to the P&Z, the developers seek a special exception to

the zoning regulations to build the complex. Simultaneously, the applicants

seek an amendment to the zoning regulations to let them build a small-scale

sewer system, which would extract nitrogen from wastewater before it's

discharged into the ground. Current zoning regulations don't allow small sewer

systems for multi-family developments.

A neighborhood group known as the Sandy Hook Concerned Homeowners Association

has hired land-planning consultant Joseph Heyman to represent it in opposing

Newtown Village.

The association has submitted a petition to the P&Z bearing the signatures of

34 nearby residents. The petition seeks to require that at least four P&Z

members vote to approve the proposal, instead of some lesser number of

affirmative votes, in effect, making it more difficult for the proposal to

gain passage. The opponents charge the application violates many provisions of

the town's land-use regulations and thus should be rejected.

Last February, in the face of strenuous opposition from nearby property

owners, the Conservation Commission unanimously granted a wetlands

construction license for Newtown Village.