Land Use Officials Seek Environmental Advice On Pond Brook Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

A Woodbury developer’s proposal to create a 14-lot residential subdivision on a physically challenging site off Pond Brook Road has prompted the town to seek outside expert advice on the environmental aspects of the project.

Developer Rick Mastroianni, doing business as Pond Brook Estates, LLC, is seeking town approval to create a 14-lot subdivision on 53 acres at 23 Pond Brook Road, on a site generally south of Pond Brook Road. The development site lies about halfway between the intersection of Pond Brook Road and Hanover Road and the intersection of Pond Brook Road and Lake George Road. Pond Brook Rd is a narrow, curving dirt road.

Two houses already exist on the site proposed for the subdivision, meaning that 12 new houses would be constructed there. Larry Edwards is the engineer representing the developer.

Vera Weeden of 23 Pond Brook Road is listed as the owner of record of the site, which is primarily wooded land. The site has minimum two-acre residential zoning.

About 12.7 acres of the 53-acre site are wetlands. Approximately 11.8 acres of the property would be designated as open space for passive recreation. About 3,500 linear feet of Pond Brook flow through the site. Approximately 2,900 linear feet of an abandoned railbed, which generally parallels Pond Brook, passes through the site.

The site contains steep slopes and extensive wetlands, which limit the amount of land that is suitable for residential development.

The Conservation Commission, which serves as the town’s wetlands agency, and the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) are jointly seeking a thorough review of developmental constraints on the site from the King’s Mark Environmental Review Team. King’s Mark of Haddam is a nonprofit corporation that uses state, federal, and private environmental experts to impartially review development projects for local governments. Municipal developmental permit fees fund King’s Mark.

In its application for a King’s Mark review, the town is seeking reports on the physical aspects of the property concerning topography, hydrology, and septic waste disposal potential. In the area of biology, the town is seeking advice on the site concerning forestry and vegetation, wildlife habitat, fisheries, river ecology, and wetlands. In the area of land use, the town wants a review of the site design, traffic access, and stormwater management. The town also is seeking reviews on open space areas intended for passive recreation and on archaeological aspects of the property.

The site lies in the floodplain of Pond Brook. The meandering Pond Brook, which drains from Taunton Pond, enters the Housatonic River at the state boat launch on Hanover Road. At the 53-acre site, Pond Brook is shaded by a full tree canopy, which keeps the brook’s waters cool. The brook, wetlands, and topography of the site provide diverse wildlife habitat.

 In its application for the King’s Mark review, the town states that it wants the railbed that runs through the site to continue serving as a hiking trail.

The town notes that Pond Brook Road area residents want to maintain that road as a scenic road.

 Almost every property owner along the road has signed a petition seeking to secure a protected status for the road. Pond Brook Road is unpaved from Lake George Road to its intersection with Hanover Road. (See separate story.)

The town has a scenic road ordinance, which is administered by the Legislative Council. If the road gains scenic road status, development along the road would be limited.

Stormwater control on a developed site is an environmental concern, in terms of the wetlands, floodplain, and steep slopes on the property, according to the town’s King’s Mark application.

As currently designed, about half of the lots in the proposed subdivision would have Pond Brook and the abandoned railbed passing through the lots. Features such as brooks and railbeds more typically are used as lot boundary lines in subdivisions to define property boundaries, and thus protect those features from encroachment by property owners.

The developer’s proposal calls for altering 4,800 square feet of wetlands on the site, as well as modifying about 110 linear feet of stream channel.

The Conservation Commission plans to conduct an as-yet unscheduled public hearing on the development proposal. That hearing is expected to held by August 14. A P&Z public hearing would follow a Conservation Commission approval.

To develop the site with 14 lots, the Pond Brook estates, LLC, would build a 1,650-foot-long dead end street known as Whispering Pines Road. In conjunction with that work, the developer would improve approximately 1,050 linear feet of nearby Pond Brook Road.

Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver said this week that the lots in the proposed development have unusual “gerrymandered” shapes.

Mr Driver termed the subdivision plans “an extremely aggressive design that deserves a detailed, review by the Conservation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission.”

 A 14-lot subdivision, which would involve the construction of 12 new homes, could “overwhelm” the site, he said.

Mr Driver said the Pond Brook Estates development proposal might be the most challenging subdivision proposal he has encountered in more than four years as the town’s conservation official. “It’s a very difficult piece of land,” he said. The five main development constraints on the site are the steep slopes, the presence of Pond Brook, extensive wetlands, the presence of the railbed, and the property’s location in a floodplain, he said. 

The developer has not yet submitted a floodplain planning map to the town in connection with the development plans, Mr Driver said.