Date: Fri 06-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Homestead-housing-

Full Text:

Proposed Zone Change Would Clear The Way For 300-Unit Housing Complex

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A development group is seeking Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approval

for a zone change that would be the first step toward construction of a

300-unit age-restricted housing complex called The Homesteads at Newtown, off

Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville.

Applicant Morton H. Silberstein, MD, of The Homesteads of Connecticut, LLC, of

Guilford, is asking the P&Z to convert the zoning designation on about 60

acres to Elderly Housing-10 (EH-10). The property currently is zoned for

residential and business uses. It has R-1, R-2, and B-2 zoning. The land

largely is a vacant former sand-and-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. The site

has road frontages at 166 Mt Pleasant Road and 12-16 Pocono Road.

Most of the site lies to the north, northeast, and northwest of Grace

Christian Fellowship and Newtown Professional Building.

A P&Z public hearing on the zone change application is scheduled for 8 pm

Thursday, February 19, at Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen Street.

If after deliberating on the application, the P&Z grants the zone change to

EH-10, the applicant would prepare and submit site development plans for the

complex in seeking a special exception to the zoning regulations to build the

project. Such applications are the subject of public hearings.

Of the overall 61.3-acre site, the applicant wants to convert almost 60 acres

to EH-10 zoning. Some 1.6 acres on Mt Pleasant Road would retain its current

Professional-1 zoning designation.

Hawleyville has long been discussed as a place for future local economic

development. A recent economic development study on Hawleyville prepared for

the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO) suggests the site

as a potential location for age-restricted housing. The P&Z has yet to act on

the economic development study.

According to paperwork filed with the P&Z, the 300-unit complex would include

160 congregate, 40 independent, and 100 assisted-living housing units. Of the

160 congregate housing units, 94 would have one bedroom, 58 would have two

bedrooms, and 8 would be studio apartments. There would be 273 parking spaces

at the site.

Access to the property would be provided by a driveway on Mt Pleasant Road,

lying approximately 650 feet east of Mt Pleasant Road's intersection with

Violette Road. A stop sign would be posted at the end of the driveway. A

secondary, gated emergency accessway would be located on Pocono Road.

A traffic report prepared by Milone and MacBroom, Inc, of Cheshire states,

"There is adequate reserve capacity to safely accommodate the existing

on-street (Mt Pleasant Road) traffic volumes, as well as the anticipated

site-generated traffic volumes."

The zone change application also contains a drainage report. It remains

unclear how wastewater disposal would be handled and how drinking water would

be supplied to the facility.

A sanitary sewer line extends from the Danbury sewage treatment plant to the

Bethel-Newtown town line. That line was installed in the past with the

intention of eventually extending it along Mt Pleasant Road to Hawleyville

Road and Barnabas Road for economic development.

Dr Silberstein holds an option to buy the site from John Sedor, Jr; Lillian S.

Emmons; and The Estate of Lillian Hazel Sedor, of which Lillian S. Emmons is

the executrix.

Property owners with holdings within 500 feet of the edge of the proposed

development will be notified by mail of the public hearing on the requested

zone change. There are 39 properties which are completely or partially within

that 500-foot zone.

Attorney William Denlinger represents the applicant.