Date: Fri 15-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Homesteads-conservation

Full Text:

Homesteads Housing Complex Gets Wetlands Permit

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Conservation Commission has approved a wetlands construction permit for

The Homesteads at Newtown, a 300-unit age-restricted housing complex proposed

for 60 acres off Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville.

Conservation Commission members, acting in their capacity as the town's inland

wetlands and watercourses agency, unanimously approved the permit May 13,

following the conclusion of a public hearing on the application.

Dr Morton Silberstein of The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, wants to build 300

units of age-restricted housing for the elderly.

Pocono Road residents have repeatedly told town land-use regulators they don't

want the proposed housing complex to have an emergency accessway extending to

Pocono Road, a narrow deteriorated road that connects Mt Pleasant Road to Old

Hawleyville Road.

At the public hearing May 13, the residents again stressed that such an

accessway would eventually disrupt their lives due to increased traffic on the

rundown street and also would decrease their property values.

Representatives of the developer presented a potential alternative route for

the accessway at the hearing.

Through the wetlands construction permit, the developer has gained permission

to place clean earthen fill along the edge of some wetlands, install two

stormwater culverts, build a stormwater retention basin, and stabilize four

areas along a streambank to accommodate the grading associated with the

construction of roadways on the site.

In granting the approval, the Conservation Commission is requiring that the

developer present construction planning maps for the conservation official's

review before any construction takes place.

In March, the Planning and Zoning Commission swiftly approved a zone change

requested by The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, thus letting the development

group proceed with detailed planning on its proposed 300-unit complex.

The applicant will now need an approval for a site development plan from the

P&Z.

The proposed complex would be served by a public water supply and public

sanitary sewers.

Most of the site is a vacant former gravel mine. The property is north of Mt

Pleasant Road, south of Old Hawleyville Road and Interstate 84, east of the

Bethel town line, and west of Pocono Road. Most of the site lies to the north,

northeast, and northwest of Grace Christian Fellowship and Newtown

Professional Building.

The complex would include 100 assisted-living units that are for the elderly

needing the highest level of care; 160 congregate-housing units within a

76,000-square-foot building for those requiring less care; and 40

independent-living apartments in duplexes for the elderly requiring even lower

care levels.