24 Units In Sandy Hook Center—

Condo Complex Gains Wetlands Approvals

By Andrew Gorosko

A proposal to build a 24-unit condominium complex on Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center has cleared a major hurdle with the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) approving two wetlands permits for the project known as The River Walk.

On November 12, IWC members unanimously approved local builder/developer Michael Burton’s permit applications to conduct regulated activities in connection with the construction of six new condo buildings, and also the construction a footbridge over the Pootatuck River, plus a footpath leading to that bridge. The footbridge would link the 10.2-acre condo site at 12 through 20-A Washington Avenue to commercial property at 102 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

The River Walk project also has been determined to comply with the town’s flood protection ordinance, meaning that the condo buildings would not be flooded during a “100-year storm,” or the worst flooding that could be expected from the nearby Pootatuck River during a hypothetical 100-year period. The site has about 520 feet of frontage on that river.

The project will now be subject to an aquifer protection review by the IWC, which is the town’s aquifer protection agency. The IWC makes aquifer protection recommendations to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) for its action. The site is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), which is situated above the Pootatuck Aquifer, a major source of drinking water.

The condo complex proposal will be subject to a special permit review by the P&Z at an upcoming public hearing.

Mr Burton said November 19 that the P&Z will receive applications for the project by December 4.

“I was very happy with the [wetlands] approvals…I’m very happy with how [the project has] been received by the town,” he said.

The wetlands review process resulted in design changes for the complex, which would shift its southern driveway about six feet farther south, he said.

The complex would have two driveways. The southern driveway would handle entering and exiting traffic. The northern driveway would handle only entering traffic.

“I think we came up with a responsible plan to manage stormwwater [flow] and to protect the [environmentally] sensitive areas of the site,” Mr Burton said. Development on the site is targeted for the center of the property, away from sensitive areas, he said.

Town Conservation Official Rob Sibley said November 19 that IWC members appreciate the thoroughness of the River Walk application, thus simplifying their review of the development proposal.

IWC members will soon review the aquifer protection aspects of the project, he said.

Mr Burton proposes The River Walk as a complex where eight of the dwellings would be designated as “affordable housing” and be sold to owners or rented to tenants at prices that are significantly lower than the 16 “market rate” units in the complex.

The eight affordable housing units would conform with regulations limiting the amount of money which the owners would pay to buy the units, or that tenants would pay to occupy the residences.

The IWC conducted three public hearings on the wetlands aspects of the condo complex proposal since early October.

In its wetlands approval for the proposed construction of six new buildings, which would hold 22 of the 24 condo units, IWC members unanimously decided that the developer may conduct regulated activities provided that certain conditions are met.

These include that: erosion and sedimentation controls must be installed before construction starts and must be maintained during construction; the town must be formally notified in advance before construction starts and also must be notified when the project is completed; and a copy of the approved wetlands protection plans must be available for reference on the construction site.

Also, the town conservation official must inspect and endorse the marked limits of physical disturbance on the site before construction starts; any modifications to the approved wetlands protection plans must be endorsed by wetlands officials; and the developer must hire an environmental management consultant to monitor the erosion controls and the sedimentation controls for the project.

Among the other conditions of approval: the project’s driveway must be built, stabilized, and approved by the town before any building permits are issued.

The IWC also approved a wetlands permit for the construction of a footbridge over the Pootatuck River, plus a footpath leading to the bridge. The bridge would be similar in design to the existing footbridge that crosses the river just upstream of the vehicular bridge on Church Hill Road.

Conditions placed on the footbridge approval include: that erosion controls and sedimentation controls must be installed, as deemed necessary by the conservation official; that the town must be formally notified before the start of the project and also notified on its completion; and that a copy of the approved wetlands protection plans must be available for reference on the construction site.

Under the development plans, five existing land parcels on Washington Avenue would be combined into one 10.2-acre parcel for condo complex construction.

Six new buildings would be constructed. Five buildings would hold four condos each. One building would contain two condos. Also, two existing houses on the site would function as condos.

The developer proposes a condo complex at which half of the units would be sold to owners, with the other half rented out to tenants. In the proposed complex, 11 of the new multifamily units would be one-story, two-bedroom ranch-style residences, with the other 11 new residences designed as two-story, three-bedroom townhouse units.

The condos would have no basements. The complex would not have garages. About 3.15 acres of the site would be developed. The condo complex would be served by sanitary sewers.

The application submitted to the IWC indicates that the condo complex would be completed by the winter of 2012.

The site has R-2 (Residential) zoning, which is designated for single-family houses constructed on building lots of at least two acres in area. However, when an application is submitted under the terms of the P&Z’s affordable housing regulations, a construction density bonus takes effect.

As an incentive to create affordable housing, the P&Z allows developers to create a higher-than-normal construction density on a site, allowing more residences to be built than would normally be permitted.

The construction density incentive allows sufficient units to be constructed so that the sale or rental of market-rate units creates financial subsidies for the construction of the lower-priced affordable units.