Sandy Hook Center—

Condo Complex Hearing Slated To Resume

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to resume a public hearing Thursday, January 18, on a Danbury developer’s controversial proposal to construct Edona Commons, a 26-unit townhouse-style mixed-income condominium complex proposed for Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

The session is scheduled for 7:30 pm at the town offices at 31 Peck’s Lane. The meeting is a continuation of a nearly four-hour public hearing that started on December 7.

Developer Guri Dauti, doing business as Dauti Construction, LLC, is making his fourth attempt to build a condo complex at the steep rugged site at 95-99 Church Hill Road, near Dayton Street.

The project proposed for a 4.5-acre site has met with stiff opposition from residents living in the area, as had Mr Dauti’s previous three attempts to develop the Church Hill Road site with multifamily housing. The Edona Commons site abuts the 189-unit age-restricted Walnut Tree Village condo complex.

Opponents have generally said that the location is an inappropriate site for such development, focusing on traffic problems as a prime reason for their opposition. 

The current proposal was submitted to the P&Z under the provisions of the state’s Affordable Housing Appeals Act, a 1989 law that provides developers with certain legal leverage in getting affordable housing projects approved by a judge, if the project is the subject of a court appeal following a rejection by a land use agency. The state law reduces a municipal land use agency’s latitude in its reasons for rejecting a construction proposal.

In August, the P&Z rejected Dauti Construction’s proposal for a 23-unit version of Edona Commons on a 4.04-acre site at the same location. The P&Z listed a host of reasons for that rejection, including potential traffic problems and a high construction density. The developer has appealed that rejection in Danbury Superior Court, but not under the terms of the state law on affordable housing.

Eight of the proposed 26-condo units would be reserved for low-income and moderate-income families.

Market-rate units would sell for between $325,000 and $375,000. The affordable housing units would sell at prices of approximately $128,000; $148,000; $181,000; and $209,000, depending upon the income of the family buying the unit and the number of bedrooms in the unit. Two-bedroom units would enclose approximately 1,200 square feet; three-bedroom units would hold about 1,500 square feet of space.

In an initial 2003 attempt to develop the site, Dauti Construction sought to build 16 condo units. In a second failed attempt early in 2004, Dauti sought to build 12 condo units. The P&Z short-circuited both those efforts by rejecting the developer’s proposals for revisions to the town’s Affordable Housing Development (AHD) regulations.