Date: Fri 27-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewers-Walnut-Tree-condos

Full Text:

Panel Weighs Details Of Possible Condo Sewer Hook-Up

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) members are developing a set of rules

and charges to which Walnut Tree Village would be subject if the condominium

complex gains town approval to connect to the municipal sewer system.

The town's first condominium development is now under construction on Walnut

Tree Hill Road opposite its intersection with Evergreen Road. Two construction

phases are planned for the complex, the first of which involves building 35

condominium units of various sizes. A second phase would involve building an

additional 45 units on the 18-acre site.

Last year, Walnut Tree Associates, the development partnership which gained

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approvals for the project, had sought but

didn't receive WPCA approvals to connect the condo complex to the sanitary

sewers. WPCA members had then said because the complex is outside the town's

designated sewer service district, it didn't qualify for a sewer line

connection.

In the following months, WPCA and P&Z members members conferred on the matter.

P&Z members later modified town zoning rules concerning septic waste disposal

for multifamily housing projects intended for elderly residents, thus creating

a legal mechanism through which a condominium complex for the elderly could

connect to sewer lines provided that certain conditions are met.

Walnut Tree Village is located in an EH-10 zone, the land use zone which is

designated for multifmaily housing for people at least 55 years old.

At an October 19 WPCA meeting, Peter Grose, the sewering project director for

Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, the town's consulting civil engineers, distributed

proposed sewer connection fees alternatives for Walnut Tree Village to WPCA

members.

Executive Session

After discussing the sewer connection fee proposals, WPCA members decided that

the substance of the proposals should be considered as "negotiations," not

subject to public disclosure under Freedom of Information laws, according to

WPCA records.

WPCA members then voted to enter an excutive session to discuss the fee

proposals behind closed doors.

Following the WPCA's discussion of the unspecified sewer connection fee

proposals, WPCA members decided to forward their proposed requirements for

sewer connections for the first and second phase of Walnut Tree Village to the

town attorney. The attorney is expected to comment on the proposals to the

WPCA.

During recent months, WPCA members have been working to set sewer assessment

formulas to be used to calculate how the costs of sewer system construction

will be split among property owners with access to sewers and property owners

without access to sewers.