Date: Fri 22-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Meadow-Acres-Mathison

Full Text:

P&Z Approves Meadow Acres Subdivision

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

In a 2-to-1 vote, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has approved the

controversial Meadow Acres subdivision on Philo Curtis Road and Jo-Mar Drive

in Sandy Hook.

P&Z members Thomas Paisley and Heidi Winslow voted in favor of the 10-lot

development on 20 acres on November 14. P&Z Chairman John DeFilippe voted

against the project.

In her motion to approve the project, Ms Winlow placed several conditions on

the approval.

The approval granted requires the developers, Robert and Kathryn Mathison, to

avoid disturbing any archaeological artifacts present on building lots by

positioning houses, driveways, and septic systems away from those artifacts.

The approval also requires that lots which contain any archaeological

artifacts to have specific deed restrictions placed on them to avoid

disturbing the artifacts.

The approval granted by the P&Z amounts to a reconfiguration of a previous

subdivision at the site.

Ms Winslow said the new subdivision is technically better than the original

subdivision, adding that the project appears to comply with the town's land

use regulations.

Mr DeFilippe, though, voiced concerns about Meadow Acres.

Some of the lots in the subdivision on Jo-Mar Drive butt right up to the edge

of the westbound lanes of nearby Interstate-84, Mr DeFilippe said. The lots

facing Philo Curtis Road don't have that problem, he said.

The nearness of Interstate-84 poses problems with vehicular noise and air

pollution, he said, in voting aginst the subdivision.

At a September public hearing, nearby residents living near Meadow Acres

voiced many environmental objections to the development project.

At that hearing, Attorney Angela Trombly of Jo-Mar Drive, representing the

Meadows Acres Area Association, expressed many of the concerns which area

residents have about the proposal. The association is composed of residents in

the area of Jo-Mar Drive, Philo Curtis Road, Riverside Road, and Chimney Swift

Road.

Ms Trombly told P&Z members that approving the resubdivision would hurt area

residents' quality of life, pollute the air, damage the land, increase taxes,

hurt archaeological sites, overcrowd local schools, impair public safety, and

generally damage the environment.

Newtown is being overdeveloped and subdivision applications are being approved

without sufficient consideration, she said. It is the P&Z's role to protect

residents, she said.

At that hearing, Ms Trombly urged the P&Z to grant the association a six-month

time extension to research the ramifications of the development project.

The original Meadow Acres subdivision gained town approval in the 1960s when

nearby Interstate-84 and Iroquois natural gas transmission pipeline hadn't yet

been built.

The town and the developers plan to share the costs of some drainage

improvements for Philo Curtis Road in connection with the project. Those

improvements will be made on the deteriorated section of Philo Curtis Road

lying between Interstate-84 and Treadwell Park.

The Mathisons plan to build three-bedroom houses in the development.

In a letter to the P&Z, Nicholas Bellantoni, the state archaeologist, wrote

that two sites which were occupied by prehistoric people about 2,000 years ago

are in the Meadow Acres area, requiring that archaeological research be done

there before construction starts. More recently, Mr Bellantoni informed the

town that the Lot 6 of the new subdivision, in particular, may contain

valuable archaeological artifacts.

Barbara Obeda, an environmental analyst working for the neighborhood

association, has said that the the open space land earmarked by the Mathison's

isn't very useful, noting it is a wetland next to an interstate highway. She

urged that tree cutting be limited. Very steep slopes in the area could be

dangerous to children, according to Ms Obeda.