Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) members are reviewing technical information and have requested  more data from a local developer/builder who is seeking sewer service for a 74-unit housing complex proposed for the west side of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center.

On April 9, WSA members opened a public hearing on applicant Michael Burton’s request for 9,250 gallons of daily sewage treatment capacity for The River Walk at Sandy Hook Village, which is proposed for an 11.8-acre site at 10 through 22 Washington Avenue.

At the start of the session, WSA member Alan Shepard recused himself, opting against serving as a WSA member during the agency’s consideration of the sewering application.

Mr Shepard said his firm is doing the engineering work for the housing proposal submitted by Mr Burton. Mr Shepard, a civil engineer, is a partner in the Shelton firm Nowakowski, O’Bymachow,  Kane & Associates, an engineering/surveying company.

During the hearing, Mr Shepard remained in the meeting room at the sewage treatment plant office building to answer any technical questions from the WSA, as Mr Burton was presenting the project to WSA members.

“This is the second go-round on this project,” Mr Burton told WSA members, noting that he had received past town approvals for the construction of a 24-unit housing complex at the site, which never materialized following an economic downturn.

In January 2009, Mr Burton gained Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approval to construct The River Walk, a proposed 24-unit multifamily complex on 10.2 acres at 12 through 20-A Washington Avenue.    

The earlier 24-unit housing proposal was approved by the P&Z under the terms of the Affordable Housing Development (AHD) zoning regulations. The current proposal is submitted under the terms of the Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations, which were approved by the P&Z earlier this year.

The IH-10 rules would allow the construction of 74 dwellings at the site. Such developments include an affordable housing component.

Mr Burton told WSA members that he had received both preliminary approval and final approval from the WSA for sewering the proposed 24-unit complex. He said that the WSA had allotted about 4,800 gallons of sewage treatment capacity for the 24-unit complex, which was never constructed.

Thus, an additional allotment of approximately 4,500 gallons of sewage capacity would be needed to meet the current proposal’s requirements, he said.

WSA members have said that the town’s remaining share of unallocated daily sewage treatment capacity at the sewage plant is approximately 23,410 gallons.

Mr Burton told WSA members that the River Walk proposal amounts to a necessary and beneficial project for Sandy Hook and for the town in general.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said the properties included in the current proposal are within the sewer district according to certain 2011 sewer mapping.

WSA member Richard Zang said that he had not found documents to substantiate that the earlier River Walk proposal had received final town approval for sewering. Mr Zang said that Mr Burton had not met with the first selectman to receive a formal “sewer extension agreement.”

Also, Mr Zang said the sewer district does not necessarily cover all of the land listed in the current proposed project, adding he has found no substantiating documents to that effect.

Mr Hurley disagreed, stating that Mr Zang was incorrect, adding that the matter would be clarified.

“I feel that the property is in the [sewer] district,” Mr Burton said.

Mr Zang said the WSA needs to review the current sewering request “as a whole new project,” not as a modification to a prior WSA action.

“Going from 24 [units] to 74 units makes it a new proposal,” Mr Zang said.

As part of the WSA’s application process for multifamily sewer service, an applicant must demonstrate that a given site has the physical capacity to dispose of the wastewater from the proposed number of dwellings through a large-scale septic waste disposal system, in order to be considered for receiving municipal sanitary sewer service.

“This is…a new application. That’s why we’re going through the whole [sewer application] process again,” Mr Hurley said.

Mr Burton assured WSA members that the site would be physically capable of handling wastewater disposal for the proposed 74 dwellings through a large septic waste disposal system.

Mr Hurley said on April 13 that the applicant had not yet presented the WSA with certain basic information which is required in an application for multifamily sewer service.

Mr Hurley said that because the current WSA application amounts to “a new application” for service for the property, Mr Burton must provide the WSA with a suitable engineering report and with detailed site plans that cover the presence of 74 dwellings at the site, not the 24 dwellings which were approved by town agencies in the past.

At the April 9 hearing, attorney Peter Scalzo, representing Mr Burton, said that the 24-unit River Walk proposal had gained town approval in the past.

But Mr Hurley responded, “We have to look at this [74-unit application] as if it’s a new application.”

Mr Shepard, in his role as the project’s engineer, said that some soil testing has been done at the site concerning its wastewater disposal capacity.

“You need the mapping” to substantiate the sewering request for the 74-unit project, Mr Hurley noted.

Public Comment

During the public comment segment of the hearing, Sandy Hook resident Wesley Thompson spoke in support of the development proposal, noting that Mt Burton does good work on his construction projects.

The proposed complex would be good for Sandy Hook Center and would be good for the town at large, Mr Thompson said.

Sharon Doherty, representing the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP), said the proposed housing complex would be an asset, providing increased residential density in Sandy Hook Center. The increased residential  density would economically aid Sandy Hook Center businesses, she said.

SHOP is a Sandy Hook Center association of business owners.

WSA members decided to resume the public hearing on the River Walk application on May 14.

The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has scheduled a public hearing on the River Walk application for 7:30 pm on Wednesday, April 22, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Mr Burton is seeking a wetlands/watercourses protection permit for the project from the IWC.

Besides WSA and IWC approvals, the River Walk project also would need approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and the Aquifer Protection Agency (APA).