Conservation Panel Endorses Condo Aquifer Protection Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

Conservation Commission members, acting as the town’s aquifer protection review agency, have unanimously endorsed a technical report stating the aquifer protection measures to be taken by a developer who proposes the construction of 54 age-restricted condominium units on an environmentally sensitive site off Oakview Road.

Conservation Official Rob Sibley said this week commission members on September 28 endorsed the contents of an “aquifer impact assessment” prepared by technical consultants Milone & MacBroom, Inc, of Cheshire, for developer Toll Brothers, Inc. Toll Brothers has proposed the Regency at Newtown condo complex for a 51-acre site at 21 Oakview Road, near Newtown High School.

After a review of the aquifer protection document, commission members determined that the proposed construction of 54 condos would have “no significant impact” on the aquifer, according to Mr Sibley.

The Conservation Commission’s aquifer protection endorsement will be forwarded to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), which acts on the aquifer protection measures proposed for land lying above the Pootatuck Aquifer, which is the underground source of two local public water supplies.

The P&Z has scheduled a public hearing for October 20 on Toll Brothers’ request for a special exception to the zoning regulations to build the condo complex.

On August 24, Conservation Commission members granted a wetlands permit for the 54-unit Regency at Newtown project.

On July 13, the commission had rejected a 59-unit version of the complex. That rejection then drew a court challenge from Toll Brothers. In response to the Conservation Commission’s environmental concerns, the developer later scaled-down the proposal to 54 units and then gained the commission’s wetlands approval for the project.

In a September 28 report to the Conservation Commission, Mr Sibley wrote that Toll Brothers’ aquifer protection application contains all the information required of applicants and is an excellent study based on its readability and references. Mr Sibley recommended that the commission endorse the report.

In the lengthy report, Milone & MacBroom states that the proposed condo complex has been designed to minimize adverse effects on the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, which is a stratified drift aquifer. The condos would use a public water supply and municipal sanitary sewer system, plus a stormwater drainage control system. Peak stormwater drainage flows on the site would be minimized, while allowing the subsurface groundwater supply to be recharged, according to the engineers.

The development would not involve the use of hazardous wastes or materials that could contaminate the underlying Pootatuck Aquifer, according to Milone & MacBroom.

The south-to-north flowing Pootatuck River forms the western boundary of the site.

In a past letter to the P&Z, Don Mysling, a senior fisheries biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had raised environmental concerns about the proposed development.

The western boundary of the site abuts a “Class 1 wild trout management area” in the Pootatuck River, which is one of eight such areas in the state where trout breed naturally. The Pootatuck River contains native brook trout, wild brown trout, rainbow trout, blacknose dace, common shiners, tessellated darters, and white suckers.

Although the state stocks the Pootatuck River with adult brook, brown, and rainbow trout, the state has stopped its river stocking in the section of the river near the development site because trout reproduce naturally there. That one-mile-long river reach, lying both north and south of Deep Brook’s confluence with the Pootatuck River, supports an abundant, wild, self-sustaining trout population, which provides high quality wild trout fishing. Fishing is allowed year-round. Anglers are required to release their catch.

Mr Mysling has provided the P&Z with a detailed series of environmental measures needed to protect the Pootatuck River, if the Oakview Road site is developed.

Regency at Newtown would be architecturally similar to Toll Brothers’ Regency Meadows at Trumbull, an age-restricted multifamily complex on Route 25 in the Tashua section of Trumbull, just north of Route 25’s intersection with Route 111.