Date: Fri 24-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Newtown-Village-Bates

Full Text:

Attorney Advises P&Z On Newtown Village Issues

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are comparing notes on Newtown

Village, a 96-house condominium complex proposed for a site on Route 34 near

I-84 in Sandy Hook.

P&Z members met October 15 with attorney Timothy Bates, the special counsel

the town hired to represent it in connection with the Newtown Village

application.

Mr Bates explained to P&Z members aspects of the state law that encourage

developers to apply for affordable-housing projects in municipalities. That

law provides the developers with regulatory leverage in getting their

affordable-housing proposals approved, either by local land-use agencies or by

the state courts.

The applicants for Newtown Village, D&H Homes of New Milford and Fairfield

2000 Homes Corporation of Stamford, are seeking P&Z approval to designate 24

of the 96 houses as affordable housing, meaning people who own those 24 houses

would have to fall below certain state-specified annual income ceilings.

Newtown Village would have a total of 264 bedrooms, 216 of which would be in

the 72 "market-value" houses, and 48 of which would be in the 24 affordable

houses. In such complexes, the market-value houses subsidize the costs of the

affordable houses. The state's incentive for developers to provide affordable

housing is allowing the development site to have much higher construction

densities than allowed by local zoning regulations. When developers apply for

affordable-housing complexes in municipalities, applicable state law

supersedes local regulations.

P&Z member Daniel Rosenthal described some concerns raised by P&Z members over

Newtown Village at the October 15 session.

Those issues include: the effect that wastewater disposal at the site would

have on the underlying Pootatuck aquifer; traffic congestion problems in the

area; problems posed by busing school children from Newtown Village to Newtown

High School or having them walk to the high school without the presence of

sidewalks; whether there's adequate parking at the site; and the effect that

removing 186,000 cubic yards of earth materials from the site would have on

the Pootatuck aquifer; potential traffic problems posed by heavy truck traffic

for excavation; the presence of flying dust and noise.

Mr Rosenthal said it is unclear how P&Z members will vote on the development

proposal, but noted that those concerns were raised in P&Z discussions on the

development application.

P&Z members may again meet with Mr Bates to discuss the development

application, Mr Rosenthal said. Newtown Village is the largest, densest and

most controversial residential development application presented to the town

in years.

In September, the prospective developers of Newtown Village rebutted the many

criticisms of the project that have been made by neighborhood residents who

want P&Z members to reject it.

A sticking point in the application is the developer's desire to install a

small-scale sanitary sewer system for the project. The developers have applied

for a zoning amendment to do so.

The developers had sought Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) approval to

extend the municipal sewer system to the site. The WPCA turned down that

request in March.