Hawleyville Church Plan Undergoes Environmental Review

By Andrew Gorosko

Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) members are pursuing answers to a variety of environmental questions stemming from the proposed construction of a 29,503-square-foot church and related facilities off Hawleyville Road (Route 25).

At a May 24 public hearing, representatives of Grace Christian Fellowship presented plans for the organization’s construction of a new church at a 13.7-acre church-owned site at 4 Covered Bridge Road. The hearing focused on steps that would be taken to protect the wetlands and watercourses on the site from environmental damage. The congregation’s existing church is located about one mile away at 174 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6).

Environmental questions about the construction project that were posed by IWC members and the public on May 24 will be answered by church representatives when the hearing resumes on June 14.

Attorney Camille DeGalan of Danbury is representing the church before the IWC.

Ms DeGalan told IWC members the church has purchased the site from Stanley Simon, who retains the right to continue living in his house there for the rest of his life.

When the church purchased the site, the northern section of Covered Bridge Road was a public road, Ms DeGalan said. At the church’s request, the town abandoned that northern road section as a public road in June 2004, she said. That road section leads to Mr Simon’s house.

Consequently, the church now proposes that it extend a driveway to the church site directly from the western side of Hawleyville Road, just south of the Exit 9 of-ramp of eastbound Interstate 84.

That driveway would contain a bridge that crosses above a wetland, Ms DeGalan said. The driveway would contain one entrance lane and two exit lanes. Such a design would have minimal impact on the wetlands, she told IWC members.

Engineer Dainius Virbickas of Artel Engineering Group, LLC, of Brookfield, representing the church, said that 2.4 acres of the 13.7-acre site are wetlands. The wetlands lie on the eastern and western sides of the property.

The church would be constructed in the area lying between the two wetlands, he said. Parking for 198 vehicles would be provided. A loop driveway would encircle the church. The project would be served by a large septic waste disposal system. Public water service would be extended to the site from the intersection of Hawleyville Road and Mt Pleasant Road. A stormwater retention basin would be constructed on the site to control drainage. Erosion and sedimentation control devices would be put in place.

Mr Virbickas said, “There’s zero wetlands loss in this proposal.”

The engineer provided IWC members with alternate versions of the church’s construction proposal, showing them drawings depicting 42,000-square-foot and 40,000-square-foot versions of a church, which the religious group dropped due to cost constraints.

The existing church at 174 Mt Pleasant Road has about 13,500 square feet of space, plus parking for about 110 vehicles.

Questions

Following the church presentation, IWC members and the public posed some questions about the construction proposal.

IWC member Donald Collier said he is not convinced that there is any good reason to create a new driveway that crosses above a wetland on the site. Mr Collier suggested that the northern section of Covered Bridge Road, which was legally abandoned by the town in 2004, be used to provide access to the proposed church. That road section now connects to Hawleyville Road.

Constructing a new accessway to the site would cause much physical disturbance of the property, Mr Collier said.

Mr Collier also asked about the fate of trees now standing in the spot where the proposed stormwater retention basin would be built.

Attorney Ralph Loew of Stratford, representing M-Newtown Associates, Limited Partnership, told IWC members that his clients own approximately 122 acres comprising five separate land parcels in the area near the church site.

M-Newtown owns three parcels to the east comprising approximately 102 acres, and also own two parcels to the northwest consisting of about 20 acres, he said. The land east of the church site has industrial zoning.

“M-Newtown is concerned that the regulated activity of the applicant’s site may damage, pollute or otherwise adversely affect the wetlands and watercourses on the M-Newtown parcels. We urge you to carefully review the application to ensure that there are no such adverse effects,” Mr Loew told IWC members.

The lawyer urged the IWC to determine whether there are any alternatives to the church construction proposal that would have fewer potential negative effects on wetlands and watercourses.

If it is determined that the church construction project would environmentally damage M-Newtown’s properties, the project should be rejected, according to Mt Loew. But if it is determined that the project would not pose problems for M-Newtown’s properties, then the partnership would not oppose the church project, he added.

Resident Linda Thomas of 2 Covered Bridge Road told IWC members that the proposed church construction would disturb the balance of nature in the area.

Ms Thomas said that any plan to provide vehicular access from Hawleyville Road to the church site via Covered Bridge Road would pose problems for her.

Resident Gary Tannenbaum of Pond Brook Road said that the church construction project could pose environmental problems for the Pond Brook Watershed. Mr Tannenbaum lives downstream of the church site.

Pond Brook lies at the western edge of the church property. Pond Brook carries water from Taunton Pond to the Lake Lillinonah section of the Housatonic River.

Conservation Official Rob Sibley asked the applicant to provide scientific analyses of the bodies of water at the church site, including Pond Brook.

Mr Sibley also asked that the applicant enlist the services of a second soil scientist for the project.

Site development aspects of the church construction project would be subject to an upcoming review by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z). The site has R-2 (Residential) zoning. Construction is proposed to take nine months.

Grace Christian Fellowship began operations in Newtown in 1984. The growing congregation is pursuing the construction of a new church because it has outgrown its existing church. That church is located in what was formerly known as Essex House, a catering hall that was built in the late 1950s.

Grace Christian Fellowship is an interdenominational church affiliated with the RHEMA Ministerial Association International.