On Oakview Road—

P&Z Approves Zone Change For 60-Unit Condo Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

In a 4-to-1 vote, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved a change of zone for a 52-acre property on Oakview Road, thus allowing site planning to proceed for a proposed 60-unit age-restricted condominium complex there, near Newtown High School.

The approved change of zone converts the property’s zoning designation from R-2 (Residential) to EH-10 (Elderly Housing). R-2 zoning is designated for single-family houses on lots of at least two acres. EH-10 zoning is intended for high-density, multifamily housing for people over age 55.

In a January 20 P&Z vote on Toll Brothers, Inc’s, requested change of zone, P&Z Chairman William O’Neil, Lilla Dean, Robert Poulin, and Jane Brymer voted in favor of the zone change, with Robert Mulholland dissenting. P&Z members Sten Wilson, Edward Kelleher, and Richard Eigen did not attend the session.

P&Z members approved the change of zone on the condition that no more than 60 dwellings be constructed at the 21 Oakview Road property. Up to 60 units would be allowed provided that municipal sanitary sewers are extended to the site for wastewater disposal. If no sewer service is available, the number of dwellings allowed would be significantly lower.

The narrow, hilly, winding Oakview Road links Berkshire Road to Wasserman Way. There are about 12 houses on Oakview Road.

Last April, it was the high traffic volume that a condo complex would generate on Oakview Road that resulted in the P&Z rejecting Toll Brothers’ initial request for a change of zone for the condo project.

At that time, the developer had proposed constructing 80 condo units, representing a third more units than now proposed. Also, at that time, the proposal did not include provisions to shunt traffic traveling to and from the condo complex onto the northern end of Oakview Road, as does the current proposal.

At the public hearings that preceded both the P&Z’s April rejection of a zone change and its January 20 approval of such a zone change, Oakview Road residents had objected that a condo complex would generate too much traffic on the narrow street. The proposed 60-unit complex would hold about 120 residents, a majority of whom would own automobiles.

Site Constraints

In a discussion of the zone change application before the P&Z’s January 20 vote, Mr Mulholland said that the physical constraints of the site, including steep slopes, would result in only seven to ten homes being built on the 52-acre parcel, if the property were to be developed with single-family houses, instead of multifamily units.

The steeply-sloped site overlooks the environmentally sensitive floodplain of the Pootatuck River and the eastbound lanes of heavily-traveled Interstate 84. Condos would be built on an upper plateau, which is about 75 feet higher in elevation than a lower plateau on the site. About one-third of the site would be developed. The property has meadows and wooded areas, with sandy soils. The site is located within the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), which is subject to strict environmental controls.

Mr Mulholland said that residents over age 55, who would move from existing houses in Newtown into the planned condo complex, would, in effect, open up those houses for sale to families with children. “That will have an impact on [the] town, a negative impact,” Mr Mulholland said of the property tax revenue that would needed to pay for the public education of those children.

Mr Mulholland said that although he had requested that Toll Brothers provide the P&Z with an architectural rendering of how the 60-unit complex would appear to motorists driving by on I-84, the developer did not provide such information.

Also, the presence of a 60-unit condo complex would cause a significant increase in traffic in the area, Mr Mulholland said.

When people return to their condos during the evening rush period, there would be high school students in the Oakview Road area, both jogging and using athletic fields there, he said.

“There are [narrow] spaces on that [Oakview] road where two vehicles cannot pass each other,” he said.

The 60 families who would live in the condo complex eventually could exert political pressure to widen Oakview Road, outnumbering the 12 families who now live on that road, Mr Mulholland said. At past public hearings, current Oakview Road residents have said they do not want the road widened in order to prevent its increased use as a shortcut.

Mr Poulin observed that the people over age 55 who would live in a 60-unit condo complex would be a source of town property tax revenue. The town needs good quality housing for people in that age group, he said.

The bulk of local tax revenue is used by the town government to cover public services that are provided for children, he said, adding that people over age 55 require fewer public services.

“I’m very much for [providing] good senior housing…It’s good for the town,” Mr Poulin said.

If the site is not used for an age-restricted condo complex, it would then be developed for some other residential use, he said, adding that such an age-restricted condo complex would have less adverse impact on the town.

Ms Brymer said a condo complex’s appearance poses a major concern, especially as viewed from I-84. Ms Brymer suggested that, in the future, the P&Z establish some architectural guidelines for such construction.

Shielding The Site

Mr O’Neil said that it would be important for an existing stand of evergreen trees lying between the condo site and I-84 to remain intact in order to shield the complex from the highway.

Mr O’Neil said it seems that the condo complex would be most visible from high terrain at Fairfield Hills. Some tall trees now shield the view of the site from that vantage point, he said. The P&Z should take steps to ensure that the condo complex is well shielded from view, he said.

Besides the visibility issue, development on the site poses environmental issues due to its proximity to the Pootatuck River, Mr O’Neil said.

There is an environmental benefit in having a condo complex connected to municipal sewers, rather than having it connected to a large-scale septic system, he said.

But extending sewer service to a condo complex would increase Newtown’s development density, which poses a problem, Mr O’Neil said.

Mr O’Neil pointed out that there are a limited number of places where such age-restricted complexes can be constructed locally.

“I don’t see any particular problems with another 60 [age-restricted] units…as far as demand,” Mr O’Neil said of market demand for such development. He said he expects that a majority of the dwellings would be occupied by people moving to Newtown from elsewhere. Many people have moved to Newtown from lower Fairfield County to avoid the higher housing costs there, he noted.

Mr O’Neil said that considering the volume of traffic that would be generated by a condo complex, it would be better to shunt that traffic to and from the complex to Berkshire Road via the northern section of Oakview Road, rather than allowing that traffic to use the southern section of Oakview Road, which connects to Wasserman Way.

Mr O’Neil pointed out that if the site is not developed for age-restricted housing, a developer could seek to build an “affordable housing” complex on the site. He added that only 50 units of up to 150 units such multifamily housing would be designated as “affordable housing” for people falling under certain income limits.

The P&Z chairman said he expects that if the Oakview Road site were not developed as an age-restricted condo complex, it would eventually be developed as multifamily “affordable housing,” or with single-family houses.

Ms Dean said that considering the environmental sensitivity of the nearby Pootatuck River, it would be necessary to create a large buffer area between a condo complex and the river. Viewed from that perspective, having a 60-unit condo complex discharging its wastewater into the municipal sewer system is probably environmentally safer than having single-family houses discharging wastewater into septic systems, she said.

 “From an environmental standpoint, [and] no other, I would vote ‘Yes,’” she said.

On that note, the P&Z membership was polled, resulting in a 4-to-1 vote to approve the change of zone for Toll Brothers.

Environmental Issue

In a letter to the P&Z, Don Mysling, a senior fisheries biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has raised concerns about the proposed Oakview Road development.

The western boundary of the site abuts a “Class 1 wild trout management area,” which is one of eight such areas in the state where trout breed naturally. The Pootatuck River contains native brook trout, wild brown trout, rainbow trout, blacknose dace, common shiners, tessellated darters, and white suckers.

Although the state stocks the Pootatuck River with adult brook, brown, and rainbow trout, the state has stopped its river stocking in the section of the river near the development site because trout reproduce naturally there. That one-mile-long river reach, lying both north and south of Deep Brook’s confluence with the Pootatuck River, supports an abundant, wild, self-sustaining trout population, which provides high quality wild trout fishing, Mr Mysling explained. Fishing is allowed year-round. Anglers are required to release their catch.

Mr Mysling provided the P&Z with a detailed series of environmental measures needed to protect the Pootatuck River, if the Oakview Road site is developed.

Toll Brothers wants to construct a housing complex that is architecturally similar to a project that the firm is now building on Route 25 in Trumbull, known as Regency Meadows at Trumbull. Oakview Road condos would have starting prices at approximately $425,000. In order for Toll Brothers to build such a design, the P&Z would need to modify some of its EH-10 housing regulations. 

Last October, Toll Brothers sought but did not receive an endorsement for the project as a form of local economic development from the town’s Economic Development Commission (EDC). EDC members took a neutral stand on the request.

Last April, after Toll Brothers’ initial application for a change of zone for the property was rejected by the P&Z, a company spokesman said that the firm was evaluating various options.

At that time, the spokesman said that those options could include modifying the condo construction proposal; developing an “affordable housing” proposal for the property; proposing construction of a conventional residential subdivision of single-family houses; challenging the P&Z’s zone change rejection in court; or dropping plans to develop the property.

Toll Brothers has received a tentative approval from the Water and Sewer Authority to extend municipal sanitary sewers to serve a 60-unit condo complex. A sewer line is buried beneath Oakview Road. The town installed the sewer line there several years ago to provide Newtown High School with sewer service.

In addition to a change of zone, in order to build an age-restricted condo complex, Toll Brothers still requires: a municipal sewer connection; zoning rule amendments to allow its architectural design to be built; a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z; a site development plan approval from the P&Z; a wetlands construction permit from the Conservation Commission, serving as the town’s inland wetlands agency; and an aquifer protection approval from the P&Z, based on an aquifer protection review conducted by the Conservation Commission.