Condo

Complex

Rejected

By Andrew Gorosko

Citing concerns about potential damage to the environmentally sensitive Pootatuck River, the Conservation Commission has rejected a developer’s proposal to construct 59 age-restricted condominium units on a 51-acre site at 21 Oakview Road, near Newtown High School.

Conservation Commission members on July 13 voted 4-to-1, with one abstention, to reject Toll Brothers Inc’s proposal for Regency at Newtown, a high-density condo complex intended for people over age 55. The Conservation Commission, acting as the town’s wetlands agency, reviews the environmental effects of proposed development on wetlands and watercourses.

Voting to reject the development proposal were Chairman Sally O’Neil, Wesley Gillingham, Dr Philip Kotch, and Donald Collier. Member Jane Nickerson dissented; member Jeffrey Ritter abstained.

Earlier in the session, Ms Nickerson had made a motion to grant a wetlands permit for the complex, which would have reduced the project to 56 condos, but that motion failed to draw support from any other commission member, and thus failed.

Following the regulatory setback, Dan Walton, Toll Brothers’ project manager for Regency at Newtown, said, “We will seek legal counsel and decide what our next options will be.” Mr Walton said the firm will confer with attorney Robert Hall, who is representing it for the Regency at Newtown application.

Mr Walton said he did not expect that the application would be rejected by the Conservation Commission.

Toll Brothers has been receptive to the legitimate concerns that were raised by commission members and has addressed those concerns with the expertise of professional consultants, Mr Walton said.

If the firm were to file a court appeal of the Conservation Commission’s decision, that legal action would delay the potential construction of the complex.

Besides a wetlands permit for the project, the developers also need zoning rule amendments from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) 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; an aquifer protection approval from the P&Z, based on an aquifer protection review conducted by the Conservation Commission, and a municipal sewer connection.

The Conservation Commission held three public hearings on the Regency at Newtown application since May, discussing in detail the environmental protection aspects of the condo complex proposal.

At the last hearing on June 22, Toll Brothers had assured Conservation Commission members that its development design, which involves the construction of some condo buildings near the top edge of steep slopes, is a safe design that would not jeopardize those slopes’ stability.

The environmentally sensitive Pootatuck River, which is a spawning ground for brook trout, lies at the base of those steep slopes , which extend westward from the condo site. The Pootatuck River in that area is a Class 1 Wild Trout Management Area, one of only eight such fisheries in the state, where wild trout reproduce naturally due to cold, clear, clean water conditions.

Mr Hall had said that through careful planning and excavation, the construction firm would be able to build the condo complex without discharging any earthen material down the steep slopes. Such a soil discharge down the slopes could jeopardize the water quality and trout habitat in the pristine Pootatuck River.

At the July 13 session, Mr Collier said that Toll Brothers had provided the commission with inaccurate information concerning the steepness of slopes near the proposed construction work, charging that those slopes are actually much steeper than have been described.

Mr Collier said that the developer could revise the project’s layout to keep the condo buildings well away from the top of steep slopes that lead to the Pootatuck River.

Mr Collier said, “It is impossible to cut down mature trees on a steep hillside, remove their root structures, introduce [earthen] fill as needed, construct the type of buildings envisaged, smooth the bare earth, introduce plantings and grow the necessary [ground] cover, and at no time be vulnerable to a potentially severe [stormwater) runoff and resulting [Pootatuck River] siltation from a heavy thunderstorm. Such an occurrence would wipe out one of Newtown’s prime trout breeding areas for an extended period.”

Mr Collier said the application would be viable if the developer were not seeking to construct so many condos near the top edge of steep slopes.

Dr Kotch said that considering the environmental sensitivity of the site, the width of the “buffer area” near the river, which is regulated by the commission, should more properly be 150 feet rather than the normal 100 feet. Some of the construction proposed for the site lies within 150 feet of the river.

In their motion to reject the wetlands permit application, Conservation Commission members decided that the proposed construction poses the potential for damage to wetlands and watercourses. Members added that the proposed condo buildings should be constructed farther away from the top edge of the steep slopes than has been proposed.

Commission members said that although they had requested that the developer provide alternate development plans for the site, which would decrease environmental hazards to the river, the applicant had only proposed reducing the number of condos on the site from 60 to 59.