Date: Fri 08-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

WPCA-Homesteads-Walnut-Tree

Full Text:

Conservation Panel Sets Hearings On Two Major Housing Projects

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Conservation Commission will address two major age-restricted residential

development proposals involving a total of 450 new housing units -- The

Homesteads at Newtown in Hawleyville and Walnut Tree Village II in Sandy Hook

-- at public hearings on Wednesday, March 13.

The hearings are slated for 7:30 pm at Canaan House, 4 Fairfield Circle South,

Fairfield Hills. At the hearings, the Conservation Commission will be serving

in its capacity as the town's inland wetlands and watercourses commission.

The Homesteads

The Conservation Commission is scheduled to conduct the second installment of

a public hearing on The Homesteads at Newtown, a 300-unit age-restricted

housing complex proposed for Hawleyville by Dr Morton Silberstein of The

Homesteads at Newtown, LLC.

Commission members are considering the wetlands aspects of the project on a

60-acre site off Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville.

Several Pocono Road residents have said they believe such a development is a

positive one for their lightly developed section of town, but question the

developer's plan to extend an emergency accessway to Pocono Road, a narrow,

deteriorated road that links Mt Pleasant Road to Old Hawleyville Road.

Those residents say they fear that extending such an accessway will eventually

lead to increased traffic on the run-down road.

The developers explain they plan to install construction material which would

visually obscure the accessway. A concrete grid that's strong enough to allow

fire trucks to travel on it would be punctuated with openings to allow turf to

grow up through it, thus obscuring the pavement.

Conservation Commission Chairman Donald Lawrenson has told representatives of

The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, the commission wants a final and perfected

version of the development proposal for its review before taking action on the

requested wetlands construction permit. The construction plan, which the

developers had presented at the first installment of the public hearing in

April, was incomplete.

In March, the Planning and Zoning Commission swiftly approved a zone change

requested by The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, thus letting the development

group proceed with detailed planning on its proposed 300-unit complex.

Dr Silberstein received a change of zone for about 60 acres off Mt Pleasant

Road from the P&Z, altering that land's development designation from (R-1) and

(R-2) Residential to (EH-10) Elderly Housing.

The project now requires a wetlands construction permit from the Conservation

Commission and a special exception to the zoning regulations for a site

development plan from the P&Z.

The proposed complex would be served by a public water supply and public

sanitary sewers.

In his application pending before the Conservation Commission, Dr Silberstein

wants permission to place clean earthen fill along the edge of some wetlands,

install two stormwater culverts, build a stormwater retention basin, and

stabilize four areas along a streambank to accommodate the grading associated

with the construction of roadways on the site.

Most of the site is a vacant former gravel mine. The property is north of Mt

Pleasant Road, south of Old Hawleyville Road and Interstate 84, east of the

Bethel town line, and west of Pocono Road. Most of the site lies to the north,

northeast, and northwest of Grace Christian Fellowship and Newtown

Professional Building.

The complex would include 100 assisted-living units, which are for the elderly

needing the highest level of care; 160 congregate-housing units within a

76,000-square-foot building for those requiring less care; and 40

independent-living apartments in duplexes for the elderly requiring even lower

care levels.

Walnut Tree Village II

The developers of Walnut Tree Village, an 80-unit condominium complex at 26

Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook, are seeking Conservation Commission

approval to build another 150 units on an adjacent 34 acres.

Besides Conservation Commission approval, applicant Louis DeFilio would need

P&Z and Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) approvals to expand the

Walnut Tree Village complex for older citizens to a total 230 units.

Mr DeFilio is seeking Conservation Commission approval to do construction work

in wetland areas. He wants Conservation Commission endorsement to build an

entrance road across a wetland area and watercourse, fill in a pond and

wetland area, cross a wet area with another entrance road, remove 660 cubic

yards of earthen material, and deposit 1,280 cubic yards of earthen material.

About 0.17 acres of the 0.45 acres of wetlands at the site would be altered.

Approximately 385 linear feet of stream channel would be modified. A

stormwater retention basin would be constructed.

The project, known as Walnut Tree Village II, would be built in the area

surrounded by Walnut Tree Hill Road, Church Hill Road, Dayton Street and Rocky

Glen State Forest. The site is near Patriot Ridge Road.

About 4,940 feet of new roadway would be constructed with the names Julia

Court, Haley Lane, and Louis Hill.

The property is in an EH-10 zone, a zone created for housing for the elderly.

EH-10 zones allow far greater building densities than typical residential

zones. EH-10 zones are designated for residences for people over 55.

Walnut Tree Developers, LLC, the development company which created the initial

80 units at Walnut Tree Village, would provide primary access to the

additional 150 units from Church Hill Road and secondary access from Walnut

Tree Hill Road.

Spath-Bjorklund Associates, Inc, of Monroe is the engineering firm that drew

site plans for the project.

The site previously was an estate containing a residence, outbuildings, a

swimming pool and extensive landscaping. It is surrounded by residential

areas. The sharply sloped property contains five wetland areas that are

wooded. It has watercourses and man-made ponds.

The proposed 150 units would be served by the United Water public water supply

system and by municipal sanitary sewers.

In the first phase of the 150-unit project, 92 condo units would be built.

They would be served by a community septic system regulated by the state

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). When municipal sewers become

available to the developers, the community septic system would be abandoned,

and the remaining 58 units would be constructed.