P&Z Approves 178-Unit Condo Complex For Hawleyville

By Andrew Gorosko

Following an October 6 public hearing, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members unanimously approved plans to construct a 178-unit age-restricted condominium complex at the 50-acre site of a depleted sand-and-gravel mine in Hawleyville.

In a vote on the proposal, P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean and members Robert Poulin, Jane Brymer, Robert Mulholland, and Rudolph Pozek approved, with conditions, the project with the working name Woods at Newtown, as submitted by developer Toll CT III Limited Partnership. The applicant is a unit of Toll Brothers, Inc.

The P&Z’s conditional approval requires that the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) also approve the wetlands/watercourses protection aspects of the project.

The IWC conducted a public hearing on the project on October 12, but took no action. IWC action is expected on October 26.

IWC Chairman Anne Peters said she wants to provide IWC members who did not attend the October 12 session an opportunity to listen to an audio recording of the hearing, as well as review various application documents, before the IWC acts on the developer’s proposal for wetlands/watercourses protection at the site. Four of the IWC’s seven members attended the October 12 hearing.

In 2006, the IWC had granted a wetlands/watercourses permit for the site to another developer who had proposed construction of a similar project there, but which never materialized. The Toll wetlands application  is largely similar to the previously approved plans, but differs in some details.

As another condition of its October 6 approval, the P&Z is requiring that an existing privately owned sewage pumping station, which would be used to handle wastewater discharged from the 178-unit complex, be brought up to operating standards, as approved by the town engineer and the town Department of Public Works.

That pumping station, which now handles wastewater discharged by the nearby 100-unit Maplewood at Newtown assisted-living complex, has had sewage overflow problems in the recent past, resulting in town Health Department concerns.

In approving Woods at Newtown, P&Z members found that the project conforms with the tenets of the 2004 Town Plan of Conservation and Development. They also agreed that the project meets the requirements of the special permit regulations, and also the requirements of the land use zones at that location.

Additionally, at the request of some residents of the nearby 96-unit Liberty at Newtown age-restricted condo complex, P&Z members agreed they would inform Liberty residents in the event that Toll seeks to extend beyond two years the use of a sales office for the Woods at Newtown located on Mt Pleasant Road, near the Liberty entrance.

Liberty residents attended the P&Z public hearing to voice their concerns about the Woods project in view of its proximity to their condo complex.

The P&Z approval for the Woods project takes effect October 17.

The Toll project is planned for property with a street address of 12-16 Pocono Road. Access to the Woods site would be provided from the north side of Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6) via an existing private street, known as Splendid Place, that now serves Maplewood at 166 Mt Pleasant Road.

The 178-unit Toll project would contain 67 dwellings within 19 multiple-unit townhouse-style buildings, 111 condo units within six large buildings, and a community clubhouse, with a swimming pool and bocce courts. All residential units would be offered for sale.

The 19 townhouse buildings would include two-, three-, and four-unit structures. Three of the large buildings would have 17 units each, with the other three large structures containing 20 units each. Including the clubhouse, the site would hold 26 buildings that would enclose 202,800 square feet of floor space overall.

The Toll project represents the fourth time since 1998 that various firms have sought to develop the site with a large-scale, high-density multifamily housing project for people over age 55. The three previous projects failed to materialize.

Presentation

Attorney Matthew Ranelli, of Shipman & Goodwin, LLP, representing Toll, told P&Z members that the site’s long history of planned projects which did not occur is not unusual in view of economic conditions.

Mr Ranelli said that the presence of Woods at Newtown would generally enhance the area.

Engineer Tom Daly of Milone & MacBroom, Inc, representing Toll, said the Toll project is similar to a project that the P&Z approved for the site for another developer in June 2006, but which never was built.

Mr Daly pointed out that the larger buildings on the site would be constructed on the flatter section of the property, with the smaller buildings positioned in an area with slopes.

He added that a locked, gated accessway that would link the site to Pocono Road would be strictly for emergency services use, not for routine traffic. Also, a visual buffer of vegetation would be maintained along the Pocono Road boundary line, he said.

The Woods building that would be the closest to Liberty would be 500 feet away from Liberty, he added.

Jack Lannamann, Toll’s senior project manager, said that each dwelling in the six large buildings at the Woods site would have garage space within its respective building.

Mr Lannamann said that Toll has been able to succeed with the type of development that is planned for the Hawleyville site. The project includes a 5,500-square-foot clubhouse for residents, he noted.

Toll puts much effort into building residential properties that people want to buy, Mr Ranelli said.

Mr Ranelli said that Toll wants to use for two years some land with frontage on Mt Pleasant Road for condo sale facilities for the Woods project. That site is located just east of the Liberty entrance.

Toll would improve the appearance of that property, he said. That site formerly was used as condo sale offices by the last firm that had last sought to build a residential complex at the depleted gravel mine.

Public Comment

Donald Lewis, of 18 Franklin Court, the spokesman for Liberty’s condo association, said the Mt Pleasant Road sales office has been there for a long time. As he looks off his patio, he can unfortunately see the presence of five trailers there, Mr Lewis said. Liberty residents had expected that those trailers would have been removed from the property, he said. The sales facility is an “eyesore,” he stressed.

Also, condos on Suzy Drive at Liberty have problems with low water pressure, Mr Lewis said. He asked P&Z members what effect adding 178 new condo units in the area would have on that low water pressure situation.

United Water would provide water service to the Toll project. United currently provides water to Liberty and to Maplewood.

Donald Leonard of 38 Jo-Al Court said the Mt Pleasant Road  sales office is an eyesore, in urging that Toll’s sales office be located in the area where the condos would be constructed, rather than alongside Mt Pleasant Road.

Barbara Herman of 48 Jo-Al Court asked P&Z members whether Liberty residents would experience objectionable construction noise originating from the Toll site as they had in the past when site development work was underway by a previous developer whose project never materialized.

Anthony Salvato of 19 Franklin Court expressed concerns about the adverse effects of night lighting at the Mt Pleasant Road sales office.

Developer Responds

In response to the concerns raised by Liberty residents, Mr Ranelli said that when Toll takes ownership of the 50-acre site, it would resolve problems posed by the sales office.

Toll CT III, LP, of 53 Church Hill Road has an option to buy the site from The Woods at Newtown, LLC, of Montebello, N.Y. 

Toll wants the use of a visible sales office along Mt Pleasant Road, such as was used by the previous developer whose project never was built, he said.

Mr Ranelli said that United Water would need to review the low water pressure problem on Suzy Drive at Liberty.

 “Toll is a good neighbor and we value being a good neighbor,” Mr Ranelli said. Toll residential projects are keyed to having a good appearance, he added.

“We do intend to build and we don’t intend to wait,” he said. The developer would cooperate with the town land use office in terms of the daily schedule for construction work on the site, he said.

Mr Lannamann said that residents would occupy the sections of the Woods complex as they are completed, with construction continuing at the site until the project is finished. Both the large apartment buildings and the smaller condo buildings would be constructed simultaneously, he said.

Mr Lannamann said he would meet with Liberty residents to discuss their concerns.

Last December, P&Z members unanimously modified the zoning regulations on high-density elderly housing complexes, setting the stage for Toll’s application to construct what was then proposed as a 171-unit complex.

The various rule changes on high-density, age-restricted, multifamily housing complexes that Toll sought and received from the P&Z last December generally allow taller buildings than previously permitted, allow the placement of a bedroom on the upper level of two-story townhouse-style condo units, and add a new category of age-restricted multifamily housing termed “apartments.”