The Planning and Zoning Commission on January 5 unanimously endorsed modifications to the River Walk at Sandy Hook Village, a 65-unit housing complex project on Washington Avenue, originally approved in August 2015. The changes were "not significant enough to open the modification to a public hearing," the commission told developer Michael Burton in a letter dated January 12, regarding the most recent modifications presented at that P&Z meeting.

Among the changes are the size, location, and number of buildings that will accommodate the housing; the addition of a freestanding community center for River Walk residents; and an outdoor, in-ground swimming pool. Moreover, what was approved a year and a half ago as a primarily condominium complex with a few rentals will now be all rental apartments, with 13 designated as affordable housing and the other 52 being rented at market price.

Other modifications could be construed, as the commission did, to be improvements to the 2015 design. Balconies on apartments facing Washington Avenue in the original drawings have been deleted. Six smaller buildings are compressed into three larger buildings on the site. A three-story building nearest Washington Avenue is reduced to two stories, and set further back from the street. A hedgerow planted between a parking lot at the apartment complex and Washington Avenue shield that street from headlights.

One has to wonder, though, what kind or number of modifications would have been deemed "significant enough" to allow the public - which raised concern among a number of Sandy Hook residents in 2015, even while supported by businesses in the center - to weigh in on the changes?

Town zoning regulations indicate that minor changes to approved plans include "slight alterations of the locations of roads, structure or buildings due to unforeseen topographical or geological features..." Minor changes to special exceptions, a zoning classification River Walk was granted in 2015, include "slight alterations of roads, parking facilities, structures or buildings due to unforeseen topographical or geological features..."

Regulations are open to interpretation, of course, by those elected to enforce them; and it is at the discretion of the Planning and Zoning Commission as to whether a public hearing takes place for modifications such as those approved on January 5.

The changes approved appear to be far more than "minor" modifications. Even in the Monopoly board game, players usually see the upgrade from houses to hotels coming - and development in Newtown is not a game.

That P&Z commissioners chose to leave it to chance that the public, particularly those who last expressed dissatisfaction with the project, would attend the latest meeting is puzzling at the least, not to mention disturbing.

Development is vital to the healthy growth of our town. But just as vital is consideration by public officials for the concerns of residents who will be affected by development long after it has become brick and mortar.

Whether required by regulations or not, the public must have a voice when modifications to projects fall outside those of slight alterations.