P&Z Accepts Curtis Pond

And Its Dam As Open Space

By Andrew Gorosko

In view of the Newtown Forest Association’s decision not to accept the donation of a ten-acre Sandy Hook open space parcel that includes Curtis Pond and its dam, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have decided to accept that open space on behalf of the town. 

The P&Z created that open space acreage when it approved the industrial subdivision known as Curtis Corporate Park in January 2001.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil told P&Z members August 4 that the forest association has opted against accepting the open space acreage due to potential liability posed by the dam it contains.

In January 2001, the P&Z approved the 49-acre Curtis Corporate Park as a 13-lot industrial subdivision off Toddy Hill Road, adjacent to Curtis Packaging Corporation’s factory/warehouse complex.

The subdivision, which contains the dead-end Turnberry Lane, is being developed with industrial uses. The site is a former surface mine that was worked by Newtown Sand & Gravel. Lot #13 of the subdivision holds Curtis Packaging Corporation’s Route 34 factory/warehouse complex.

The site is within the town’s environmentally sensitive Aquifer Protection District (APD), an area atop the Pootatuck Aquifer, a major underground source of drinking water.

As part of the 2001 industrial subdivision approval, the P&Z designated approximately ten acres of the 49-acre site as open space for passive forms of recreation. That open space, which is located at the eastern end of the site, contains Curtis Pond, the pond’s dam, and also the land lying between Route 34 and Curtis Pond. Curtis Pond is the water source for fire hydrants in the nearby industrial area. Curtis Pond lies across Route 34 from Zoar Cemetery.

Attorney Ward Mazzucco, representing Curtis Packaging Corporation, on August 4 told P&Z members that the ten-acre open space parcel would be transferred to the town instead of to the forest association.

In 2001, a condition of the P&Z’s industrial park approval required that the open space land be transferred by Curtis Packaging Corporation to the forest association before the seventh lot of the industrial subdivision was sold.

As a condition of the subdivision’s approval, Curtis agreed to reconstruct a then-deteriorated dam at Curtis Pond to the standards of the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a task that has been accomplished. The pond was created about 160 years ago to provide a reservoir to power a waterwheel for a factory nearby.

In a July 6 letter to the P&Z, Mr Mazzucco had written, “While the original application was underway, [the forest association] tentatively indicated it was willing to accept the open space land. Since then, the [association] has declined to do so.”

Curtis then held extensive talks with the first selectman, town engineer, director of public works, and town attorney concerning a town acquisition of that open space, Mr Mazzucco wrote. As a result of those talks, Curtis agreed to provide the town with an accessway for dam maintenance from the Route 34 Curtis Packaging complex.