Residents Question Trailer Placement Near Condo Complex Entrance

By Andrew Gorosko

Some residents of the 96-unit age-restricted Liberty at Newtown condominium complex on Mt Pleasant Road are expressing opposition to another condo developer’s proposal to position two construction trailers near Liberty’s driveway entrance at 178 Mt Pleasant Road.

The developers of the nearby planned 178-unit Woods at Newtown age-restricted condo complex want to install those trailers to serve as a temporary sales office and a model condo for the upcoming Woods project.

Liberty at Newtown residents turned out in force at a January 4 Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) public hearing on Bashert Developers, LLC’s, proposal to place two construction trailers alongside Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6) in Hawleyville advertising the Woods. The trailers would enclose 3,708 square feet of space. The site would have eight parking spaces.

The Woods trailers would be located on a turnoff at 166 Mt Pleasant Road, situated about 120 feet east of Liberty at Newtown’s elaborate driveway entrance. The Woods sales office would lie about 500 feet west of the driveway for Grace Christian Fellowship Church, which is at 174 Mt Pleasant Road.

Both the planned Woods at Newtown and the existing Liberty at Newtown are designed for people over age 55.

Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City, N.Y., in Rockland County, received approval for the 178-unit Woods at Newtown complex on a 50-acre site from the P&Z last June. Liberty at Newtown, which gained P&Z construction approvals for a 40-acre site in August 2002, was constructed by Ginsburg Development Corporation of Valhalla, N.Y., in Westchester County.

Bashert is seeking to modify its P&Z special permit in order to install the sales office and model condo unit. The two trailers would be placed on a neck of land owned by Bashert that extends southward from its condo site to Mt Pleasant Road, near the Liberty entrance.

The January 4 session was a continuation of a December 21 public hearing on the matter. The December 21 meeting did not attract Liberty at Newtown residents.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil noted that Toll Brothers, Inc, which is constructing a 54-unit age-restricted condo complex on Oakview Road in Sandy Hook, has placed a construction trailer on its construction site. Mr O’Neil asked why Bashert does not place its two trailers on its construction site.

Landscape architect Jason Williams, of Milone & MacBroom, Inc, representing Bashert, told P&Z members that the location near the Liberty entrance would be the “best” place to position the Woods’ trailers. During the Woods’ construction project, there would be much commotion on the site, posing physical hazards to potential condo buyers, he explained.

Bashert wants permission to let the trailers stand alongside Mt Pleasant Road for two years, after which the Woods sales office would be moved to a clubhouse that is planned for the Woods complex, he said.

P&Z members said potential condo buyers would probably want to look at the construction site before buying a condo. The site is a former quarry.

Woods project manager Karen Routh said that Bashert would make arrangements for potential buyers to visit the construction site, provided that conditions are safe. After it is built, the Woods would be served by the driveway that now serves the existing 100-unit assisted-living Homesteads at Newtown apartment building at 166 Mt Pleasant Road.

Mr Williams said the gravel driveway that would lead to the Woods’ two construction trailers alongside Mt Pleasant Road needs to be located on the side of the site nearer to Liberty’s entrance for land grading reasons and for environmental reasons.

P&Z member Robert Mulholland said, though, that it appears that it would cost Bashert less money to build the driveway there than on the opposite side of the site.

Public Comment

Liberty resident Barbara Herman of 48 Jo-Al Court told P&Z members that there were mail notification problems for nearby residents about the public hearing on Bashert’s request to install the construction trailers.

Ms Herman said that traffic will soon increase on Mt Pleasant Road when the nearby Big Y supermarket opens in Bethel, just west of Newtown/Bethel town line.

Donald Leonard of 38 Jo-Al Court said that placing the Woods construction trailers near the Liberty entrance is upsetting, noting that trees would need to be removed. Such a situation would hurt property values at Liberty, he said. Citing aesthetic issues, Mr Leonard asked whether the trailers could be placed elsewhere on Bashert’s property.

Liberty resident Elliot Wasserman of 12 Franklin Court suggested that Bashert has a “hidden agenda” in seeking to place construction trailers near the Liberty entrance. Mr Wasserman said Bashert does not want potential buyers to see the Woods site, adding that its trailers’ proximity to the elaborate Liberty complex could be used as a “selling point.”

Liberty resident Tom Pumo of 77 Suzy Drive said the closeness of the Woods’ trailers to the Liberty entrance would obstruct the sight lines of motorists leaving the Liberty driveway. He asked whether a traffic study has been performed for the application.

Anthony Salvato of 19 Franklin Court said there are other locations where Bashert could position its trailers. Other developers place their sales offices on their construction sites, he said.

Bob Marchese of 17 Franklin Court said Liberty has had its construction trailer positioned on its site. He asked how Bashert would restore the area after the construction trailers are removed.

Michell Tschantz of 13 Franklin Court said that having the Woods construction trailers positioned 120 feet away from the Liberty entrance would pose traffic hazards in the area.

Response

Mr Williams said that Bashert had not expected that it would need to use the neck of land that extends from the Woods condo site southward to Mt Pleasant Road. But circumstances have changed, he said.

Bashert is not seeking to damage the quality of life for Liberty residents, he said. The lay of the land in the area would hide the view of the trailers for motorists who are exiting the Liberty driveway, he said.

“There’s no hidden agenda,” Mr Williams stressed, noting that the site proposed for the trailers is the best site for trailers.

Site restoration work would replace the trees removed for the trailers’ placement, he said.

P&Z members closed the public hearing on Bashert’s application and are expected to act on the matter at an upcoming session.

The Woods at Newtown would consist of 132 units of “congregate housing,” and 46 “independent living” condos.

The Woods is planned for the site of a depleted sand-and-gravel mine where The Homesteads at Newtown had planned to construct a 178-unit age-restricted housing complex, comprised of congregate housing and independent living units. After The Homesteads entered bankruptcy, those plans did not materialize. Bashert acquired the largely unbuilt development site for $8.9 million in the spring of 2005 through bankruptcy proceedings.

Twelve condos that The Homesteads’ developers had constructed, but which were never occupied, will be demolished to make way for The Woods at Newtown.

Bashert plans that the 132 congregate housing condominiums be located in ten large apartment buildings surrounding a massive courtyard, beneath which there would be covered parking for 272 vehicles. The parking would be located at ground level with a roof atop that parking garage functioning as the “courtyard” amid the ten buildings.

The 46 independent living condos would be housed in eight separate buildings, with conventional attached garages. A clubhouse also would be constructed.