The Traditions At Historic Southbury –

Southbury Forges Ahead With Cluster Zoning,

While Newtown Waits And Watches

By Andrew Gorosko

As surveyors took measurements, workmen last week plied heavy equipment in building new roads for a 150-unit multifamily cluster-housing complex now under construction in the South Britain section of Southbury, across the Housatonic River from Sandy Hook.

Spectrum Skanska, a Westchester County-based residential developer, is beginning its first project in Connecticut, known as The Traditions at Historic Southbury.

The project will be built on a 94-acre site east of Route 172, and just south of Southbury Training School. Houses will be clustered in groups on the hilly site, which lies on a flank of East Hill, between Route 172 and Heritage Village. Although the eastern boundary of The Traditions will abut Heritage Village, through-traffic will not pass between the two complexes. An emergency gate will be positioned where the two complexes meet to allow emergency vehicle traffic to pass, when necessary.

The state Office of Policy and Management had chosen Spectrum Skanska in 1999 as one of the three developer finalists in a competition for the redevelopment of Fairfield Hills, the sprawling former state psychiatric hospital in Newtown, which closed in 1995. Spectrum had proposed Legacy at Newtown for Fairfield Hills.

The firm wanted to create 625 housing units at Fairfield Hills, most of which would have been age-restricted. Spectrum had proposed live/work spaces, neighborhood retail, professional offices, a country inn, recreational and open spaces, plus public uses. The firm had proposed a children’s museum, a library, plus three sites where Newtown could have constructed public facilities.

But Newtown residents balked at the redevelopment schemes proposed by the three developers because the plans included major residential components. Newtown residents later opted to have Newtown to buy the 190-acre Fairfield Hills core campus to control the developmental destiny of the site in the geographical center of town. Newtown is now in the process of acquiring Fairfield Hills from the state.

Across the river at The Traditions, Spectrum plans to build 150 “individual” single-family houses. But, so that the project complies with aspects of Southbury’s “multifamily cluster” development regulations, small groups of houses will be physically interlinked with fencing and arbors, allowing them to be considered “multifamily” units for the purposes of the zoning regulations. The project is slated to built in six phases. The terrain is rolling and also steep. The complex will have private streets.

Southbury has had zoning regulations for cluster housing since 1986. Besides “multifamily cluster” regulations, Southbury has “subdivision cluster” regulations, which allow for a different form of clustered development.

Specifics

Spectrum says the houses at The Traditions will range from about 1,950 square feet to about 3,050 square feet in area, when fully built out with optional room additions. Sale prices for the condominiums will range from about $338,000 to $440,000. The condominium complex will levy common charges. The firm estimates local real estate property taxes for owners will range from about $4,500 to $6,400 annually. There will be nine home designs. The first units are scheduled for occupancy in August/September 2002. All houses will have garages, some of which are situated below living quarters, and some of which are attached on the side of the house. Project amenities are scheduled to be in place in the summer of 2003. Amenities will include a tree-lined streets, a gazebo, an amphitheater, a tot lot, a community meeting house, a fitness center, and an outdoor swimming pool, among others. A condominium association will oversee operations at The Traditions, which is in an R-30A zone.

The Traditions will receive public water and sanitary sewer facilities via adjacent Heritage Village. The emergency vehicle access between The Traditions and Heritage Village is scheduled to be built during the first construction phase.

Unlike Heritage Village, a massive age-restricted condo complex where construction began in the 1960s, The Traditions will not be age-restricted, under the terms of its development approval.

Consequently, The Traditions, unlike Heritage Village, will contain school-age children, many of whom will receive public education in Pomperaug Regional School District public schools. Southbury and the smaller Middlebury are members of the district.

 DeLoris S. Curtis, Southbury’s planning administrator, said last week that construction of The Traditions is the product of the site’s lengthy and complex legal history, involving court cases that stretch back more than 20 years. Spectrum Skanska bought the property and its development rights from a previous owner. As such, Spectrum must adhere to the development plans that have already been approved for the site. The site formerly was known as Heritage Woods.

As with other developments in other towns, three issues loom large when a sizable complex is constructed, Ms Curtis said. These are: the presence of schoolchildren requiring public education; the increase in local traffic flow, and the alteration of local character, Ms Curtis said.

At The Traditions, Spectrum Skanska is seeking to recreate the ambience of a small New England hometown where people of all ages live together in a multigenerational community, according to the firm. The developer lists the well-regarded schools of Region 15 and local recreational facilities as pluses of the Southbury community. The firm is marketing the complex to New Yorkers and Connecticut residents.

 “The traditions at Historic Southbury appeals to homebuyers who have been priced out of the housing markets in nearby Fairfield County…as well as Westchester and Putnam counties in New York,” according to Mitchell C. Hochberg, president and chief executive officer of Spectrum Skanska, Inc. The firm has headquarters in Valhalla, N.Y. Spectrum Skanska is the homebuilding and development division of Skanska AB.

“Our homes are among the most affordably priced single-family homes in the area. This is an exceptional housing value, as well as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in an extraordinary community that is rich in tradition,” according to Mr Hochberg.

 

Newtown Cluster?

In the coming months, the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is expected to revisit the topic of cluster housing, as it formulates Newtown’s 2003 Town Plan of Conservation and Development, an advisory document that will guide local decision making on land use applications through the year 2013.

The town does not now have cluster housing zoning regulations.

Cluster housing has been mentioned by some residents as a mechanism through which the town could balance the interests of residential growth with the preservation of open space. In such development, dwellings, either in the form of apartments within multi-unit structures, or in the form of individual houses, are “clustered” together in groups on a site to allow the presence of relatively large adjacent open space areas.

Although cluster housing may appear to be a desirable goal, past studies of the topic by local land use agencies have uncovered the complexities involved in fashioning a workable set of rules to regulate such development. The practical problems posed in creating a set of cluster housing rules have resulted in P&Z members, so far, opting against creating such regulations.

Last spring at a public forum, Newtown residents gave their views on what they consider important planning issues for the 2003 town plan.

Resident Judy Holmes, who is a Conservation Commission member and the owner of Fox View Farm on Hundred Acres Road, stressed the importance of preserving the town’s rural character. Ms Holmes heads the town’s Open Space Task Force. Ms Holmes endorsed the creation of cluster zoning. “I think it would do a lot of good things for Newtown,” she said.

At that session, Robert Hall, a local land use attorney who often represents developers before land use agencies, said a well-designed cluster-style residential development can help keep the landscape open.

Resident Pat Denlinger of Grand Place urged that P&Z back cluster-style residential development as an alternative to allowing the town to be subdivided into small residential lots.

Kim Danziger of Stonewall Ridge Road, a local developer and builder, said cluster housing would maintain existing open space areas.

“Give us good regulations and we’ll build good houses and subdivisions. Give us bad regulations and we’ll build bad houses and bad subdivisions,” he said. Mr Danziger has pointed to Monroe as a town that has cluster housing regulations that have been successfully implemented to balance the interests of housing and open space preservation on individual sites.

P&Z member Lilla Dean said last week she expects P&Z members will discuss cluster housing regulations as they make their decennial review and revision of the town plan.

Cluster housing will be among the many topics the P&Z considers in revising the town plan, according to Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker. P&Z last revised the town plan in 1993.

P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano said cluster housing is a “great concept,” but expressed reservations about the practicalities of regulations governing such development. Cluster development becomes very difficult to properly regulate, he said, as it tends to be reduced to issues focusing on construction densities.

Administering cluster housing regulations is both complex and time-consuming, Mr Fogliano said. The complexity of the proposition makes one wonder whether it is worth the effort involved, he added.

Adequately reviewing cluster development projects may involve reviewing home building proposals for a property under a cluster development scheme, and also under a conventional development scheme to assess the practical differences, he said.