Newtown Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has given the green light to modify some drainage-related infrastructure in the new Sandy Hook Holly Estates subdivision — as well as permission to remediate what is being described as a ‘sediment plume’ that developed on the parcel.

The IWC met on February 22 at Newtown Municipal Center to discuss modifications and remediation to the Holly Estates subdivision.

IWC members present were chair Sharon Salling, secretary Mike McCabe, Scott Jackson, Kendall Horch, and Craig Ferris. Town staff in attendance were Senior Land Use Enforcement Officer Steve Maguire and Land Use Enforcement Officer Kiana Maisonet.

The agenda item was listed as Application IW #20-27 (Modification) by Negreiro & Sons Construction LLC, for a property located at 203 and 211 Berkshire Road, Newtown, Conn., to construct 15 single family homes and a 1,550 foot road with associated improvements.

The subdivision was originally approved by IWC in December 2020 and by Planning and Zoning Commission in January 2021. It is already underway with a home built on Berkshire Road, and the cul-de-sac Holly Lane has been created with multiple homes built there, too.

In April 2022, IWC considered revoking the applicant’s permit due to poor communication and site conditions.

Similarly, IWC went through a second revocation hearing earlier this year. Representing the original application was applicant Jose Negreiro, Jason Edwards of J. Edwards & Associates, Gary Nash of Nash Construction, and attorney Chris Russo of Russo and Rizio LLC. Ultimately, after much back-and-forth, IWC did not revoke the permit.

At the start of the February 22 meeting, Maguire stated, “We are having an application for modification of the existing subdivision permit just to go over the overall changes to the overall development, and then we are having an application for the restoration of the affected wetlands on Newtown Forest Association (NFA) property and Lot 10 … and Lot 12.”

He noted a “third party inspector has been contracted” to submit weekly reports. He estimates 90 percent, if not more, of the erosion controls are up.

“Everything else is on par right now,” Maguire said.

Salling prefaced the discussion saying that she would like to stick with hearing about the changes to what was in place before. Edwards shared that “the plans have not changed since we were last here.”

He said they have hired Michael Lambert of Lambert Civil Design LLC to be the site monitor, and that Lambert did a walk-through of the site with other members involved in the project.

“If you recall, the main focus of the plan was to address anything that was or could be un-stablized or become a problem. So, we added a lot of silt fence, long story short,” Edwards said when pointing out specific locations of where the silt fences were.

He said that they also completed removing the rip rap from the construction property.

“That was the bulk of what has been done since we last spoke with you,” Edwards said. “That really makes a huge difference out there, because it provides barriers everywhere from anything getting broken loose and causing a problem.”

Lambert has been out to the site two more times since the initial walk. He has provided suggestions for how to move forward, such as installing temporary silt socks along the lower edge of the silt bloom.

Edwards said that the commission is welcome to go with Lambert on any upcoming site walks, which usually take place on Fridays. Maguire said he would like to see them continue having weekly updates until the site is stabilized.

When the commission inquired when the subdivision project would be completed, Negreiro answered, “It’s hard to say, because it depends on how the sales go with the houses. Obviously, we want to do [it] as fast as possible.”

He estimates it could be completed by the end of this year.

After some more discussion, the IWC moved to approve Application IW #20-27 (Modification) with these additional conditions:

*Wetland creation area as depicted on original approved plans dated October 27, 2020, WP-1 and WP-2 shall be completed prior to certificate of occupancy issuance for Lot 1.

*Rip rap channel protection shall be installed prior to Certificate of Occupancy for Lot 1.

*Environmental swale shall be installed prior to Certificate of Occupancy for Lot 1.

*Environmental swale shall be installed prior to Certificate of Occupancy for Lot 3.

*Curtain drain shall be installed prior to development of Lot 3, 4, and 5.

*Extended rip rap pad on outlet of main basin shall be constructed prior to Certificate of Occupancy for Lot 12.

*Main basin shall be cleaned out, inspected, and certified by engineer prior to Certificate of Occupancy for Lot 11.

*A certified environmental inspector will perform weekly inspections and 24-hour inspections within a rainfall event. A certified environmental inspector will also inspect the site prior to a significant rainfall event to make sure all appropriate soil erosion control measures are in place and working.

With that said, the meeting minutes state approved plans are: “Holly Estates 203-211 Berkshire Road Erosion Control Plan Road Construction EC-1 and EC-2 Dated received February 8, 2023, and all supporting documents including suggested remediation completion path and basin pump out sequence.”

All members were in favor, so the application modification was approved.

Wetlands Remediation

IWC then segued into the second application of the evening: Application IW #23-01 by Negreiro & Sons Construction LLC, for a property located at 10 Holly Lane, for the remediation of wetlands impacted by storm runoff and the construction of a single family house.

Edwards explained this is for the area impacted by flooding of silt. It is known as Lot 12 in the subdivision.

“The intermittent watercourse crosses under the roadway … there’s a rip rap path that was not in place at the time and has now been installed. [When] that was not there, in its place they had placed hay bales and silt fence across this. They froze, created a dam, and the water ran around here and came around here,” he explained while showing photos to the commission.

Edwards estimates there is a 4-to-6-inch layer of silt in some spots of the impacted area.

He noted that the remediation plan was prepared by landscape architect Tracy Chalifoux of Danbury, who worked with soil scientist Steve Danzer on it.

Chalifoux started out by saying, “we’ll call it sediment plume” for what washed into the applicant’s land, as well as the neighboring NFA property.

She said that since there are existing trees and plants coming up through the sediment plume, they determined the best cleaning method would be to shovel it by hand to remove it. Then they would transport the sediment by wheelbarrow to a non-wetland area to reuse on the property.

“Once the sediment is removed, it would be hand-raked and the wet mix by New England Wetland Plants Inc, or equal, would be applied. This is the seed mix that has approximately 15 various plant species within it … it will provide that biodiversity to fill in any areas with new plants,” Chalifoux said.

She added that “a small portion of the channel to the north” has filled up with sediment and also needs to be cleaned out by hand.

Chalifoux voiced that the area should be monitored for a minimum of one year by a wetland scientist or landscape architect to make sure everything is re-vegetating properly to get coverage back. Maguire relayed that the NFA is okay with the applicant’s team removing the sediment on their property if the IWC is comfortable with the plan presented.

The commission motioned to approve Application IW #23-01 with the condition, “Wetland restoration on Lot 12 shall be completed prior to any development of the site.”

The approved plans as stated in the meeting minutes are: “Wetland Restoration Plan WP-3, Holly Estates dated February 9, 2023, and all supporting documents.”

The motion unanimously passed.

Upcoming Applications

Before concluding the meeting, IWC accepted two applications that will be reviewed in the future:

*IW Application #23-02 by GRC Construction LLC, property located at 48 Pine Tree Hill Road, to install a pipe to cross existing watercourse.

*IW Application #23-04 by Teton Capital Company, LLC, property located at 6 and 8 Commerce Road, for construction of a 171-unit multifamily housing development.

The latter would be sharing a driveway with the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary now that its Commerce Road access way has been completed.

The next IWC meeting will be Wednesday, March 8, at 7:30 pm, at Newtown Municipal Center.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.