Date: Fri 01-Oct-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Avalon-hearing-advance

Full Text:

Two Hearings Slated On Avalon Apartment Complex

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Two public hearings are scheduled for Avalon at Newtown, a 304-unit rental

apartment complex envisioned for Hawleyville, which is the largest private

residential complex ever proposed locally.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to conduct its public

hearing at 7:30 pm, Thursday, October 7, at Room A-107 at Newtown High School,

12 Berkshire Road.

A Conservation Commission public hearing is slated for 7:30 pm, Wednesday,

October 13, at the town land use office at Canaan House at Fairfield Hills.

The Avalon Bay proposal, which was submitted to the P&Z and Conservation

Commission in April, had been scheduled for public hearings in the past, but

those sessions fell through for various reasons. Most recently, hearings which

had been scheduled for early September were postponed when Avalon Bay

Communities, Inc, had to deal with septic waste disposal issues posed to it by

the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA). Avalon is seeking to discharge

sewage from the 178 Mt Pleasant Road site into a sewer line planned for

Hawleyville.

Among other matters, the WPCA had asked Avalon to estimate the 40.7-acre

site's capacity for on-site septic waste disposal. Avalon, however, has asked

that the WPCA rule on its request for a connection to the planned sewer system

without it providing the WPCA with an estimate of the property's on-site

septic disposal capacity.

WPCA members plan to inform the development firm that it must provide that

information because the site lies largely outside the designated Hawleyville

sewer district.

Following a meeting with Avalon in August, WPCA members asked the first

selectman and the Economic Development Commission (EDC), among others, whether

Avalon's construction proposal can be considered a form of "economic

development." The Hawleyville sewer district has been created to foster local

economic development.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal has replied, "I have not been provided with

any authenticated data which would support Avalon Bay's contention that their

proposed residential housing application will generate more tax revenue than

it will demand in expenditures for municipal services. Since it is not a

commercial, retail, office or industrial proposal, which would be ordinarily

associated with economic development, nor is it an age-restricted residential

proposal, which could also be viewed as a form of economic development due to

little or no impact on schools, I do not consider their proposed apartment

complex to be economic development."

In a response to the WPCA on behalf of the EDC, EDC Chairman A. Winthrop

Ballard wrote that EDC members unanimously believe that Avalon is not a form

of economic development.

"Not only would sewerage have to be provided, but also police and fire

protection and ambulance service. If children are included, their education

and transportation would have to be provided. There is very little potential

contribution to Newtown's economy," according to the EDC.