Sandy Hook Condo Complex Plans Progressing

By Andrew Gorosko

A local builder/developer expects to submit by June an application to the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) for a 24-unit condominium complex proposed for a 10.5-acre site on the west side of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center. One third of the dwellings would be designated as “affordable housing.”

Michael Burton of Michael Burton Builders, Inc, said this week that he expects to file an IWC application for the condo project by mid-June. Mr Burton discussed the status of technical planning for the project with his land engineer this week.

The IWC would review and act on the wetlands protection aspects of the condo project, which would be located near the Pootatuck River. The proposal is informally known as Washington Avenue Housing. Mr Burton describes the proposal as a “workforce housing community.”

Also, the IWC would review aquifer protection measures proposed for the development site, which is located in the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD) situated above the Pootatuck Aquifer.

Besides acting on the proposed site development plans, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) would act on aquifer protection aspects of the project based on a recommendation made by the IWC.

In February, Mr Burton received preliminary approval from the Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) to extend municipal sanitary sewers to the site located at 12 through 20-A Washington Avenue. The development site is largely located outside the town’s sewer district, so the boundary lines of the sewer district would need to be redrawn to allow the complex to discharge wastewater into the sewer system.

Mr Burton said his regulatory goal is to comply with the town’s existing land use regulations for such a construction project, including the P&Z’s Affordable Housing Development (AHD) regulations, which have been in effect since 1996.

“We’re trying to work with the town...I’m trying to comply with the regulations,” Mr Burton said.

“I think [the condo complex] would be a benefit to the town,” he said, adding that the project would provide “starter residences” for young families.

Mr Burton said he expects that “affordable” units in the complex would sell for about $175,000, and the market-rate units would be priced in the low $300,000s.

The level site owned by Mr Burton is in a R-2 zone. It lies between Washington Avenue and the Pootatuck River. The proposed complex would consist of six new multiunit buildings. Five buildings would contain four housing units each. One building would contain two units, plus associated storage facilities. Also, existing houses at #18 and #20 Washington Avenue would be part of the 24-unit complex. Each of those two houses now has sewer service.

In the proposed complex, 11 of the new multifamily units would be one-story, two-bedroom ranch-style residences, with the other 11 new residences designed as two-story, three-bedroom townhouse units. Of the 24 units, eight units would be designated as “affordable housing.”

In such complexes, developers receive a “density bonus” from land use agencies as an incentive to create affordable housing. Thus, construction is allowed at a higher-than-normal density. The sale prices of market-rate units, in effect, subsidize the sale prices of affordable housing units, which are sold at much lower prices, based on the state’s definition of “affordable housing.”

Mr Burton has said he envisions a housing complex in which about half of the units would be sold to owners, and the other half of the units would be rented out to tenants. The rental prices for “affordable housing” units would be subject to state regulations. Market-rate rental prices would be higher.

To provide the housing complex’s residents with direct pedestrian access to the businesses in Sandy Hook Center, Mr Burton proposes constructing a footbridge across the Pootatuck River, which would link the housing site to the rear of a business plaza located at 102 Church Hill Road.

Mr Burton said that site plans call for the new construction to be unobtrusive and located well away from Washington Avenue. The property would be visually well-buffered, he said.

The buildings at the site would be located outside of the 100-year floodplain of the Pootatuck River, Mr Burton said.

Last year, a Danbury developer filed court appeals against the P&Z and the WSA after both those agencies rejected its proposal to create a 26-unit condo complex including eight affordable housing units on a steep, rugged 4.5-acre site at 95-99 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center. The P&Z had rejected site plans for the Edona Commons project, and the WSA had rejected a sewer connection for the complex. Both of Dauti Construction, LLC’s, lawsuits are pending in New Britain Superior Court.

Those lawsuits are filed under the provisions of the state’s Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Act. Under that law, applicants for affordable housing projects that are rejected by municipal land use agencies gain certain legal leverage in getting those projects approved through court appeals. Only public health issues and public safety issues are considered to be justifiable reasons for a land use agency to reject an affordable housing project.

Unlike Mr Burton’s project, which seeks to comply with the P&Z’s existing regulations on affordable housing complexes, the Dauti proposal for Edona Commons seeks to have the P&Z modify many zoning regulations to allow Edona Commons to be built.