80 Units—

Developer Pushes For Sewers

For Condo Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

In view of the town Water Pollution Control Authority’s (WPCA) apparent reluctance to allocate a requested 15,200 gallons of municipal sewage treatment capacity for an 80-unit, age-restricted condominium complex proposed for 21-23 Oakview Road, the project’s developer is seeking to buy that sewage treatment capacity from the state.

WPCA members and representatives of Toll Brothers, Inc, met on March 11 to discuss the firm’s request for municipal sewer service for the proposed condo complex, which the firm envisions for a 52-acre site between Oakview Road and the Pootatuck River, near Newtown High School.

The Commerce Road sewage treatment plant, which is jointly used by the town and the state, has an approximately one-million-gallon-per-day sewage treatment capacity. About one third of that treatment capacity is designated for town use, with remaining two-thirds reserved for state use. When the town buys the Fairfield Hills core campus from the state for $3.9 million, it will receive 100,000 gallons of the state’s treatment capacity at the sewage plant as part of that transaction.

The sewage plant, which began operation in 1997, is designed to operate within its one-million-gallon-a-day treatment capacity until 2017.

The central sewer system, which sends wastewater to the Commerce Road sewage plant, was built to rectify environmental problems, such as groundwater pollution, which were caused by numerous failing individual septic systems. By contrast, the town built its Hawleyville sewer system, which started operation in 2001, to spur economic development in that area.

The town is now using roughly two-thirds of its designated sewage treatment capacity at the Commerce Road sewage treatment plant. The state is estimated to be using just over a third of its designated treatment capacity there. In effect, somewhat less than one-half of the overall sewage plant capacity is being used.

On March 11, after encountering WPCA reluctance to allocate 15,200 gallons of municipal sewage treatment capacity at the sewage plant for Toll Brothers’ use at its proposed condo complex, Gregory Kamedulski, a Toll Brothers vice president, said that the company would seek to buy some of the state’s sewage treatment capacity at the plant.

Mr Kamedulski said the firm would seek to acquire 20,000 gallons of sewage treatment capacity from the state. Toll Brothers would let the town use any of that purchased sewage treatment capacity that the firm does not need for the 80-unit condo complex, thus providing some incentive for the town to approve municipal sewer service for the condo complex. Toll Brothers has estimated that an 80-unit condo complex would actually need somewhat less than its stated 15,200 gallons of daily treatment capacity.

WPCA members and Toll Brothers agreed to meet again on March 25 to discuss the firm’s request for sewer service, after the firm has approached the state about buying sewage treatment capacity.

WPCA Session

The March 11 WPCA session was held in a conference room in the office building at the sewage treatment plant. WPCA meetings typically have few people, if any, other than WPCA members present. The March 11 session attracted about a dozen people connected with the condo sewering request, including Toll Brothers staffers and consultants, and members of the Watkins family, which owns the development site. Toll Brothers holds a purchase option to buy the Watkins property if it receives town approvals for condo construction. The Watkins property became more attractive to developers several years ago, after the town installed sewer lines beneath Oakview Road to provide sewer service to the nearby high school.

While seeking WPCA approval for a condo sewer connection, the developer simultaneously is seeking Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approval to change the zoning designation for the site from R-2 (Residential) to EH-10 (Elderly Housing). That P&Z application is pending.

At a March 4 P&Z public hearing on the requested change of zone, Oakview Road residents raised concerns about the traffic consequences of an 80-unit condo complex on that narrow, winding road. Others raised concerns about such development in an environmentally sensitive area lying above the Pootatuck Aquifer and next to a mile-long state-designated wild trout fishing area in the Pootatuck River.

“We need to keep the lines of communications open” between the WPCA and the P&Z, attorney Robert Hall said while representing Toll Brothers at the March 11 WPCA session. The developer’s 80-unit proposal hinges on gaining approvals from both the WPCA and P&Z, Mr Hall has noted.

Three Approaches

Mr Kamedulski said Toll Brothers has considered three basic options for developing the Watkins property. The prime option is constructing an 80-unit condo complex, he said.

The second option would be developing a residential subdivision of single-family houses. He suggested that 20 to 25 houses could be built there, but added that the number of homes possible on the site is unclear.

A third option would be constructing a complex of “state-regulated housing,” otherwise known as “affordable housing,” on the site, he said. That might involve constructing dwellings containing a total of 300 bedrooms, he said.

Of the three options, Mr Kamedulski said the 80-unit condo complex is Toll Brothers’ first choice.

“We like it. We’re excited about it. We think it makes the most sense for the town,” he said.

When fully built, a condo complex would generate about $487,000 in net annual revenue for the town, he said. Condo units would sell at a price starting at $425,000. The town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) has endorsed a condo complex as a form of local economic development. Connecting the condos to the sewer system would generate roughly $750,000 in sewer connection fees, Mr Kamedulski said.

Mr Kamedulski said that the water quality of the nearby Pootatuck River would be protected if a condo complex were constructed. The clustered design of such a project would allow much land on the site to remain undeveloped, he said.

Ted Hart is an engineer for Milone and MacBroom, a Cheshire environmental engineering firm that is working for Toll Brothers on the condo proposal. Mr Hart told WPCA members that the condos would be built atop a large knoll comprised of glacially deposited sand and gravel, which would have excellent drainage characteristics for septic system use. If conventional septic systems were used on the site, they could dispose of approximately 26,000 gallons of wastewater daily, he said. That wastewater volume represents the outflow from 86 two-bedroom dwellings, Mr Hart said.

WPCA member Alan Shepard suggested that if the soil on the site is so good for septic system use, then Toll Brothers should build a large septic system for wastewater disposal, instead of seeking a town sewer connection. If the site has such high-quality soil, why should the town exhaust some of its sewage treatment capacity for such a complex, Mr Shepard asked. Riverview Condominiums, a 49-unit condo complex on Bryan Lane, disposes of its wastewater through a large-scale septic system built on a sand-and-gravel deposit, he noted.

The presence of an 80-unit condo complex would provide an economic benefit to the town, Mr Hart responded.

Because the development site is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), town zoning regulations would not allow septic systems to be used for as many as 80 units. The APD rules would allow only about 26 multifamily units to be served by a large-scale septic system.

Mr Hall said that the presence of 80 luxury-grade condos that are connected to the sewer system would be a better prospect for the town than an “affordable housing” complex that would be served by a large-scale septic system.

Chairman

WPCA Chairman Richard Zang said of the sewering request, “We’re not looking for new [sewer system] customers because we’re overextended already at this [sewage] plant.”

The town has approximately 100,000 gallons of its sewage treatment capacity remaining at the sewage treatment plant, Mr Hall said.

Mr Zang responded that the WPCA has a “priority list,” which describes the relative importance of various sewering requests. The sewering request from Toll Brothers, which involves providing sewer service for new construction lying outside of the designated sewer district, is a very low priority for the town, Mr Zang explained. Higher priorities involve providing sewer service to resolve existing environmental problems at properties within the sewer district.

Mr Zang noted that the WPCA does not use economic development criteria in making its decisions on providing connections to the central sewer system.

Mr Zang asked whether there are other sections of town, where there are many failing septic systems, that are more in need of the town’s sewage treatment capacity than an as-yet unbuilt 80-unit condo complex.

Mr Shepard responded that places such as Pootatuck Park have such sewage disposal needs. Pootatuck Park is a neighborhood overlooking the Housatonic River, where there are many septic system failures.

Mr Zang said the Toll Brothers sewering request will require added WPCA review, noting that the development site clearly lies outside of the town’s designated sewer district.

Mr Hall pointed out that the 189-unit Walnut Tree Village age-restricted condo complex on Walnut Tree Hill Road was outside of the sewer district, but it acquired sewer system connections.

Mr Hall said the money which the town would collect for sewer connections for an 80-unit Toll Brothers condo complex would, in effect, cover the cost of the town’s past extension of the sewer system from Sandy Hook Center to Newtown High School via Oakview Road.

“It’s a nice [condo] project…for whatever it’s worth,” Mr Hall said.

Sequestration

At that point, Mr Zang suggested that WPCA members enter an “executive session” to discuss the Toll Brothers’ sewering request. The state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows public agencies to enter such closed sessions to discuss public business for specific reasons.

WPCA members, however, pointed out that there was no apparent allowable reason to enter an executive session, noting that the WPCA and Toll Brothers were not engaged in “negotiations.” The FOI Act lists negotiations as a legitimate reason for an executive session.

Mr Zang then suggested that the WPCA hold a “recess” to discuss the proposal. Mr Zang, Mr Shepard, and WPCA members Jan Andras and Carl Zencey, plus Public Works Director Fred Hurley, filed out of the conference room, went into a hallway, and then entered a nearby room where they sequestered themselves for about ten minutes behind closed doors, ostensibly privately discussing the Toll Brothers sewering proposal.

When WPCA members were then asked if they were holding an executive session, WPCA members said that they were not doing so. They then returned to the conference room where the session with Toll Brothers representatives resumed.

Mr Kamedulski then raised the topic of Toll Brothers seeking to buy sewage treatment capacity from the state for the firm’s proposed 80-unit condo complex.