Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Tilson-subdivision

Full Text:

41-Lot Subdivision Proposed For Sandy Hook

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

A local developer is proposing construction of a residential subdivision in

Sandy Hook containing 41 building lots on a long, narrow strip of land along

the north side of Interstate-84, extending eastward from Washington Avenue to

Philo Curtis Road.

Tilson Financial, LLC, of Alberts Hill Road late on Friday, June 18,

simultaneously submitted plans for Tilson Woods to the Planning and Zoning

Commission (P&Z) and Conservation Commission. Listed as having a financial

interest in the company are Charles Tilson, Gary Tilson, Janet Tilson and

Cheryl Mouthro.

Although almost all of the 61-acre site lies within the town's Aquifer

Protection District (APD), the development project will not be subject to the

new, tougher aquifer protection regulations approved by the P&Z which went

into effect Monday, June 21.

Most of the land in the proposed subdivision has one-acre residential zoning

and some land has half-acre residential zoning. The new aquifer protection

regulations have a provision which requires that new single-family houses

built in the APD be on at least two acres, a requirement which would have cut

in half the number of lots allowed in the proposed Tilson Woods.

The development site abuts the large town parcel which contains Treadwell Park

and Sandy Hook School. The developer proposes donating 8.3 acres of open space

for passive recreation as part of the subdivision proposal. That open space

would be divided into two sections, a five-acre section of which would abut

Treadwell Park on Philo Curtis Road.

To create road frontage in the proposed development, Tilson Financial would

build three roads -- Pearl Street, Misty Lane, and Charlie's Circle. Pearl

Street would be a through road linking 29 Washington Avenue to Philo Curtis

Road. The other roads would be dead ends. The subdivision would have almost

one mile of new road construction. Pearl Street would run generally parallel

to the Iroquois natural gas transmission pipeline right-of-way and I-84. The

building lots would be served by domestic water wells and septic systems.

Design plans for the subdivision would have minimal impact on wetlands and

watercourses, said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver. The site contains

1.28 acres of wetlands. The Conservation Commission will address wetlands

aspects of the project at an upcoming session.

The development application describes the property as rolling land with

woodland mounds which drain to two wetlands.

The only reasonable developmental alternative to the proposed subdivision

layout involves a reconfigured roadway which would result in a prohibited

reverse curve in the road, according to the application.

Extensive erosion control measures would be taken to protect an off-site pond

from sedimentation from an earthen embankment needed for road construction,

according to the application.

In light of its backlog of development applications, the P&Z is requesting

that the applicant extend the time period within which a public hearing will

be held. Such an extension would delay a hearing until sometime this fall.