Four public meetings on a scaled-down version of Hunters Ridge, a controversial mixed-use complex proposed for 79 Church Hill Road, have been rescheduled by the town.

Developer 79 Church Hill Road, LLC, which initially had proposed 224 rental apartments for the 35-acre site, is now proposing 196 dwellings for the property.

Also, the developer now proposes reducing by some as-yet-unspecified extent an initially proposed 55,000 square feet of commercial space at the site.

Those design changes came after the developer learned that the town does not have as much unallocated sewage treatment capacity available in the central municipal sewer system as the developer had initially requested for the project.

The Board of Selectmen in early March recommended that the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) not provide the proposed complex with sanitary sewer service.

A WSA meeting on Hunters Ridge, which had been scheduled for March 21 to consider the developer's request for sewer service, was canceled due to a snowstorm. That WSA session has been rescheduled to 7 pm on Thursday, April 12, at the town Public Works Department offices at 4 Turkey Hill Road.

Because the WSA needed to reschedule that session, three other town sessions planned by three town agencies that review other aspects of the project also have rescheduled their meetings. The applicant's request for sewer service is a fundamental aspect of the development proposal.

If the WSA decides to provide sewer service for the project, then the three other town sessions would follow. However, if the WSA decides not to provide sewer service, it is unclear whether the proposal would be the subject of three other meetings.

In light of the WSA's planned April 12 session, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC), and the Aquifer Protection Agency (APA) have slated subsequent sessions on Hunters Ridge.

The P&Z is scheduled to conduct its second public hearing on Hunters Ridge at 7:30 pm on Thursday, April 19, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

The IWC's second public hearing on the project is slated for 7:30 pm, on Wednesday, April 25, at the Municipal Center.

The APA is comprised of the same people who are members of the IWC, but the APA convenes separate meetings. The APA's review of the aquifer protection aspects of Hunters Ridge is slated to start immediately after the conclusion of the IWC's April 25 session at the same location. The APA makes recommendations to the P&Z on protecting the Pootatuck Aquifer.

The wooded, hilly development site is bounded on the south by Church Hill Road, on the east by Walnut Tree Hill Road, on the north by residential properties on Evergreen Road, and on the west by the Exit 10 interchange ramps for westbound Interstate 84.