Borough Cluster Housing Approved

By Andrew Gorosko

The Borough Zoning Commission (BZC) this week approved a set of zoning rules, known as the Residential Open Space Development (ROSD) regulations, which would permit single-family houses to be clustered on a site, thus allowing a large amount of undeveloped open space land to be preserved at the site.

BZC members unanimously approved the regulations following a brief May 16 public hearing. The new rules will take effect on June 18.

Only one person asked a question at the public hearing in seeking to clarify the intent of the ROSD rules.

Resident Laura Lerman of 55 Main Street asked whether the ROSD rules would result in the creation of “gated communities” where public access is restricted.

BZC Attorney Donald Mitchell responded that the ROSD rules do not specify public access to undeveloped open space land at such developments.  

Under the ROSD rules, at least 50 percent of a parcel would need to be preserved as open space land under the terms of a “conservation easement.” Such open space would be allowed to contain trails, bicycle paths, picnic tables, docks, and storage for boats without motors.

At the hearing, Mr Mitchell presented mapping that showed the location of some rugged land off Castle Hill Road owned by the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation which has frontage on Taunton Lake.

The ROSD rules would create a mechanism through which residential development could occur on such a site well away from that environmentally sensitive lake’s shoreline, he said.

If such sites with R-1 (Residential) zoning were to be developed under the terms of the town’s subdivision regulations, there would no “special permit” review performed by regulators, as is required under the ROSD rules, he said.

Special permit applications undergo stricter review than typical development applications.

Because the borough does not have its own planning agency, the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) serves as the borough’s planning agency in reviewing and acting on residential subdivisions proposed for land within the borough. In April, the P&Z reviewed the proposed ROSD zoning rules, as submitted by the BZC, and endorsed the rules.

The ROSD rules would apply to several large undeveloped tracts that remain in the borough. The rules pertain to any land parcel, or contiguous parcels, that are larger than 25 acres and that lie entirely in a residential zone.

The new rules would allow for greater flexibility and creativity in the design of single-family-house developments to preserve larger open space areas and the natural features of land parcels.

The dwellings in a ROSD project would need to be connected to public sanitary sewers and connected to a public water supply. Public utilities for the project would be installed underground. The development would have private roads.

At least three areas in the borough appear to meet the ROSD rules’ criteria:

*Hunter Ridge, LLC, a development firm, owns approximately 30 acres at 41-47 Mt Pleasant Road. The site has R-1 (Residential) zoning. The firm’s proposal to build 14 houses at the site, which extends downhill from Mt Pleasant Road to the Taunton Lake shoreline, has been mired in litigation in Danbury Superior Court since 2005.

*The Walker family owns an approximately 91-acre parcel, locally known as Walker Farm, at 22 Sugar Lane, which has R-1 zoning. The large majority of the parcel lies within the borough.

*The Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation owns approximately 136 acres at 60 and 20 Castle Hill Road, as mentioned above. The large majority of the property lies within the borough. The property has a boundary along Taunton Lake. The land has R-1 zoning.

Under the terms of the BZC regulatory proposal, the rules would allow the construction of clustered, detached single-family houses with either attached or detached garages. The site would be maintained at the expense of a private homeowners’ association, similar to a condominium association.

The rules would allow the construction of a clubhouse, community center, cabana, picnic pavilion, swimming pool, tennis court, or other passive or active recreation facility. Such facilities would be used by the people living at the complex.

The BZC offers a proposed construction density calculation formula describing the number of dwellings that would be allowed at the site. The presence of steep slopes and wetlands would limit the potential construction density of a site. The maximum number of dwellings at a site would be limited to one dwelling per acre, based on the gross acreage of the property.