IWC Rejects GFC Permit Request

By Andrew Gorosko

Following lengthy review of an application to build a new church and related facilities off Hawleyville Road (Route 25), the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has unanimously rejected issuing a wetlands permit for the project, determining that the design poses environmental hazards to nearby wetlands and a watercourse.

In a 7-to-0 vote on September 13, IWC members rejected Grace Christian Fellowship’s wetlands application for a proposed 29,503-square-foot church on a 13.7-acre site, which has a street address of 4 Covered Bridge Road. The site contains 2.4 acres of wetlands. The land is near the Exit 9 off-ramp of eastbound Interstate 84.

The IWC conducted four public hearings on the application starting in May.

The congregation now occupies a 13,500-square-foot church about one mile away at 174 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6). The group wants to build a new larger church to meet the needs of its expanding congregation. Grace Christian Fellowship began operations in Newtown in 1984. The group is an interdenominational church affiliated with the RHEMA Ministerial Association International.

In a September 19 letter to attorney Camille DeGalan, who represents the church, IWC Chairman Sally O’Neil wrote that the agency denied the application “without prejudice,” meaning that the church would be eligible to immediately reapply for a wetlands permit with modified development plans.

“The commission encourages the applicant to reapply for a permit after addressing the deficiencies noted in this denial,” Ms O’Neil wrote.

In response to IWC’s decision against granting a wetlands permit, Ms DeGalan said September 20, “We’re very disappointed.” The application submitted by the church conformed to all applicable regulations, she said.

In response to IWC’s requests for plan modifications, the church had made various concessions, altering its plans, Ms DeGalan said. The church sought to comply with the IWC’s requests, she said.

The church will review its options in view of not receiving a wetlands permit, Ms DeGalan said.

The applicant can either reapply to IWC with modified plans, or file an appeal of the decision in Danbury Superior Court.

The church project also needs approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

In her letter to Ms DeGalan, Ms O’Neil wrote that factors resulting the wetlands permit denial included the potential for damage to nearby wetlands and the adjacent Pond Brook, based on the construction plans.

Ms O’Neil noted that the rejected proposal involved “excessive impervious parking area.”

During the application review process, IWC had sought to have the church significantly reduce the amount of paved parking area that would be located on the site, replacing it with specialized paving stones known as “pervious pavers.” Instead, the church agreed to scale down the amount of asphalt on the site, replacing some asphalt with gravel surfaces. The church has proposed a parking area for 198 vehicles.

IWC members had suggested that the church use the pervious pavers in some parking areas to allow stormwater to drain directly down into the soil, thus reducing the project’s environmental impact. Pervious pavers are an alternative to asphalt pavement, which is an impervious surface that creates stormwater runoff. Pervious paving stones contain voids to allow water to flow down through them, but are rigid enough to allow vehicles to park atop them.

At a past public hearing, an engineer representing the church had said that the use of pervious pavers would prove impractical due to wintertime conditions.

Also, IWC contends that the church submitted an incomplete application for a wetlands permit. Deficiencies in the plans involve the construction schedule, erosion and sedimentation control measures, and stormwater treatment information, according to IWC.

In response to IWC requests to reduce the development’s environmental impact on the site, the church had made some stormwater control design changes.

Instead of constructing an above-ground stormwater retention basin on the site as it had initially proposed, the church revised its plans, proposing the installation of underground stormwater retention structures, which would be located beneath its parking lot. That system would include six buried lengths of five-foot-diameter pipe that would temporarily hold stormwater that accumulates on the site during rainstorms. Those design changes would leave more undisturbed land adjacent to wetlands on the site.

The church has proposed extending a 60-foot-long two-lane bridge to the site from Hawleyville Road to provide access to the church property. The bridge would span a wetland.

IWC members initially sought to have the church provide access to its site from Covered Bridge Road, which connects to Hawleyville Road.