The Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) is reviewing a request for sanitary sewer service at an 11.8-acre site at 10 through 22 Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center, where a local developer/builder proposes the construction of a 74-unit apartment complex known as The River Walk at Sandy Hook Village.

WSA members agreed on March 12 that the sewering proposal would be the subject of a WSA public hearing on April 1.

Developer/builder Michael Burton wants the WSA to designate 9,250 gallons of sewage treatment capacity at the sewage plant for wastewater disposal.

The project would include an affordable housing component. Mr Burton is proposing the project under the terms of the Incentive Housing-10 Overlay Zone (IH-10), a zoning designation that was recently created by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

In January 2009, Mr Burton gained P&Z approval to construct The River Walk, a proposed 24-unit multifamily complex on 10.2 acres at 12 through 20-A Washington Avenue.

The economic downturn, however, prevented that project from being constructed. The earlier proposal was approved under the terms of the Affordable Housing Development (AHD) zoning regulations.

Mr Burton said he soon expects to submit plans for the current proposal for Inland Wetlands Commission review and action. The project also would be subject to P&Z action.

The developer said the majority of the 74 proposed units would be for sale, with some units serving as rentals.

The complex would contain mostly two-bedroom apartments, with some one-bedroom units, he said. The project would include garden apartments, as well as townhouses.

Preliminary drawings for the complex indicate five buildings, including three-story and two-story structures.

Those plans show 54 two-bedroom garden apartments, six one-bedroom garden apartments, and 14 two-bedroom townhouses.

“This development would be a strong boon to Sandy Hook Center,” he said, noting the complex’s proximity to the businesses in that area.

Fred Hurley, director of Public Works, said this week it appears that all or most of the 11.8-acre site lies within the sewer service district. “This needs to be reviewed,” he said.

Also, the site is in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area which receives strict review by town land use agencies due to its environmental sensitivity.

In requesting municipal sewer service for 74 units, the applicant is required to show the technical feasibility of constructing an onsite septic system that would be able to handle the wastewater disposal from all 74 units, Mr Hurley said.

Mr Hurley noted that although the developer has prior town approvals to construct a 24-unit complex, which was never built, the WSA is approaching the current application for the site as “a whole new proposal.”

The WSA’s public hearing on The River Walk application for preliminary sewering approval is slated for 7 pm on Wednesday, April 1, at the town’s Multipurpose Center at 14 Riverside Road in Sandy Hook.

Typically, when seeking sewering approvals, a developer first gains preliminary approval from the WSA, after which it seeks and gains approval from local land use agencies, before receiving final sewering approval from the WSA.

In January 2009, when the earlier River Walk proposal gained P&Z approval, no one attending a lengthy public hearing voiced any opposition to that 24-unit project.

This is an expanded version of a story first published on March 14, 2015.