The firm which has proposed the high-density multifamily development project known as Hunters Ridge at 79 Church Hill Road has withdrawn its controversial application for municipal sanitary sewer service from review by the Water and Sewer Authority (WSA).

Development firm 79 Church Hill Road, LLC, withdrew that sewer application after learning that the section of that 35-acre parcel which lies within the central sewer district is much smaller than was previously thought.

In the fourth version of its Hunters Ridge development proposal, which was submitted to WSA on May 1, the firm sought sewer service for the construction of 175 rental apartments, of which 53 units would be designated as affordable housing, under the terms of the state's Affordable Housing Appeals Act (AHAA).

In a May 4 response to the developer, however, Public Works Director Fred Hurley explained that a town technical review of the acreage lying within the sewer district indicates that only 0.75 acres, not 3.8 acres, is within the sewer district.

"This obviously has a major impact on [the] siting of 175 units of multifamily housing on such a small parcel, regardless of availability of any sewer capacity," Mr Hurley wrote.

The developer sent an agent to the Public Works Department to review the sewer district mapping, which indicates that only 0.75 acres lies in the sewer district, after which the developer withdrew the sewer application. The earlier acreage estimate had been based on other less accurate mapping,

The developer recently withdrew applications for the project from Planning and Zoning Commission, Inland Wetlands Commission, and Aquifer Protection Agency review.

It was unclear whether 79 Church Hill Road, LLC, would return to the town with new applications for developing the site, which is adjacent to the Exit 10 interchange ramps for westbound Interstate 84.

The spokesman for the firm did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the matter.

(A detailed version of this story will appear in the May 18, 2018 print edition of The Newtown Bee and posted online later this week).