Land Use Rules Modified For Open Space Preservation

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have revised the land use rules to make it simpler and more straightforward for developers to apply for an Open Space Conservation Subdivision (OSCS), a form of single-family-house development which seeks to cluster the homes on a site in order to preserve relatively large areas of contiguous open space.

P&Z members approved the changes to the zoning regulations and to the subdivision regulations at a November 8 session. The revised rules take effect on November 14.

P&Z members modified the OSCS regulations after having had recent discussions with real estate, engineering, development, and construction people in seeking to learn how the rules could be modified to make OSCS projects a more appealing prospect for developers.

Although the P&Z approved the initial OSCS regulations in August 2004, no developer has ever pursued an application under the terms of those rules, prompting the panel to seek changes to make the regulations more appealing to applicants. The rules are intended to limit “suburban sprawl.”

The OSCS rules’ goal is preserve up to 50 percent of a site as undeveloped open space. The P&Z’s conventional subdivision rules require that at least 15 percent of a site be kept as open space.

The revised OSCS rules would provide a developer with a “density bonus” incentive of ten percent, meaning that an OSCS development site would be allowed to have ten percent more house lots than would be allowed on the same site under terms of the conventional residential subdivision rules.

In effect, if the conventional rules would allow 20 houses to be built on a site, the OSCS rules would allow ten percent more houses, or 22 homes, to be built there.

Also, the revised OSCS rules delete a previous “lot coverage limit” of ten percent, which had held that no more than ten percent of a lot’s area could be covered with impervious surfaces, such as roofs and driveways.

P&Z members decided that OSCS development may be sought for any new residential subdivision in R-1, R-2, and R-3 zones.

Also, P&Z members removed a requirement that OSCS projects have a minimum site size of 20 acres. It is thought that the smallest site where such a project would be practical would be about ten acres.

Also, P&Z members established 35,000 square feet, or four-fifths of an acre, as the minimum lot size for a single-family house in an OSCS development. Each lot must comply with applicable town and state regulations concerning septic waste disposal and water wells.

Applications

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said November 9 that P&Z members hope that developers who envision single-family-house construction on large tracts pursue those projects under the terms of the modified OSCS rules as a way to preserve relatively large amounts of open space on a site.

Ms Dean pointed to the Sherman Woods proposal for Sandy Hook as a project which would well lend itself to OSCS development.

Developer William Joyce wants town approval for a 38-house subdivision on a 158-acre agricultural site off Sherman Street, near Still Hill Road and Toddy Hill Road.

Mr Joyce has an appeal pending in Danbury Superior Court over the Inland Wetlands Commission’s (IWC) October 2009 decision not to issue him a wetlands/watercourses protection permit for the controversial project, which was the subject of seven IWC public hearings in 2009.

The developer has never submitted a subdivision application to the P&Z, not having received an IWC approval for the project.

The P&Z’s intent in seeking OSCS development is to allow for greater flexibility and creativity in residential development design to provide significant open space preservation with the aim of protecting the town’s rural community character.

Building lots would be relatively smaller and less roadway would be constructed in an OSCS development, causing less developmental impact on the environment than would occur in a conventional subdivision.

Town land use officials have said they believe the housing market is changing and that homebuyers want smaller building lots than have been created in conventional subdivisions in the past.