The Borough of Newtown Zoning Commission closed its public hearing regarding a 117-home cluster home development at 20-60 Castle Hill Road at its meeting on November 20. The closing marks the end of the opportunity for public input on the development, and at its next meeting on Wednesday, December 18, the commission is expecting to begin its own deliberations and possibly have a vote on its final decision.

The November public hearing mostly marked the last chance for developer George Trudell and his attorneys and experts to make their arguments in favor of approval for the development, and for members of the public to speak their minds, with sentiment at the meetings running largely in opposition to the project.

The Borough Zoning Commission also noted it received 28 new letters concerning the Castle Hill Development since its previous meeting in October.

The final hearing on the project began and ended with Trudell answering questions and responding to criticisms of the project. At the beginning of the meeting, Trudell noted that all exterior lighting will be dark sky friendly, and that he was happy to stipulate in a potential approval that he would work with Borough Zoning and the Conservation Commission on planting choices for the sight line barriers.

Attorney Tom Beecher, representing Castle Hill, clarified the choice that while regulations may allow non-residents onto the property, the Castle Hill development will only allow non-residents on the Reservoir Road/Rochambeau Trail section of the property, and not the rest which would include frontage on Taunton Lake.

Beecher also reiterated that traffic studies show that traffic service levels would only change for one area, and that’s people trying to leave the subdivision during peak morning hours. The remaining service levels in other areas and times would remain the same following the building of the development, according to the studies submitted by the Castle Hill developers.

During public participation, many expressed concern about the Homeowner’s Association at the development and how it would enforce all the stipulations of the approval over time. Speakers were concerned about Castle Hill residents using an emergency only exit on Castle Hill, were concerned about possible changes to the lighting, and about residents building in the conserved area of land. Members of the Borough Zoning Commission echoed some of those concerns as well.

Beecher stated that any changes to the original approval and stipulations set on the HOA would have to come back to Borough Zoning, and could not be made without further approvals.

Resident Eric Thompson was allowed to do a short presentation wherein he showed footage from an aerial drone to illustrate what he felt was how visible the development would be from various places in town such as the Fairfield Hills Campus. Thompson showed a slide photoshopped with buildings to show what he said was a high amount of visibility of the development from other parts of town.

Trudell scoffed at the picture and interjected, “it’s not accurate.” Trudell later said that there would not be clear cutting of trees along the ridgelines as the photoshopped views were illustrated, and that the views would be blocked by trees, both existing and added by the developer.

Resident John Madzula expressed concern about the lack of third party reviews. He said that while the commission members had noted that their regulations did not speak to third party reviews, Madzula felt that the regulations being silent on the issue gave the commission permission to utilize third party reviews, it did not block them from using them.

Resident Holly Kocet urged the commission to either reject the development or ask for the number of houses to be significantly reduced.

“The negative impacts of this development will be felt around town for years to come,” said Kocet.

Resident Sue Torrey expressed concern that residents would not be allowed to continue to use the conserved property.

“They’re taking away access to trails that have been used for decades,” Torrey said. “That’s unacceptable. At a minimum it needs to be hikeable by people in town.”

Torrey went on to say that the development did not meet the standards of the regulations that developments improve the town, saying it “degenerates the town.”

Resident Tracy Van Buskirk was critical of the high price of the proposed “luxury homes,” saying the town needs more “mid-priced” homes to help bring in new families and allow older folks to stay in town for their retirement.

Resident Casey Ferguson said that the development does not fit the aesthetics of the borough.

“One-hundred seventeen homes with so little space between them does not fit the character of Newtown,” said Ferguson.

She also said that the houses being set back essentially made it a “gated community” separate from life in the Borough, and that noise pollution from the building of the development would mean her 18-month old child “would not know peace until middle school.”

At the end of the meeting, Beecher said that “the bottom line is that this development complies with your regulations.”

He also noted criticisms from the public asking it to send the development back to Inland Wetlands for review.

“Your jurisdiction is not to micromanage other agencies in town,” said Beecher. “It’s not up to this commission to say what other agencies have done wrong.”

Borough Zoning Chairman Douglas Nelson noted that the commission has 35 days plus any extensions to consider the application. At the next meeting on December 18, the commission would begin its own deliberations, but the public hearing is closed and there would be no more input from the public.

The controversial development has garnered interest all over town, including from Newtown Conservation Coalition, which was largely organized to oppose it.

The controversy surrounding the 117 home cluster development on 40 acres of the 132 acre property largely centers on two concerns — the large amount of homes, and the presence of the Rochambeau Trail on the property, lying along Reservoir Road.

Developer George Trudell has said that he needs the road to be discontinued to develop the land the way his plans currently call for, leaving 85 acres near Taunton Lake as open space.

The homes will be built in a cluster using a specific town regulation, 4.05.1, which allows residential open space developments. The homes will be clustered in one area of the development to maximize the open space surrounding it and would be a “multi-generational” development with homes between 1,800 and over 3,000 square feet. There will be “large setbacks” around the homes from the surrounding roads.

The Board of Selectmen approved the discontinuation of Reservoir Road, which existed as both a trail and as a paper street, at a July meeting.

The four conditions placed on the property are:

*The discontinuation of the road is conditioned on the Borough Zoning Commission’s approval of the site plan application;

*On the development being built within five years of the approval of the site plan application;

*On the inclusion of the discontinued portion of the road as part of the final Declaration of Conservation Restriction.

*And on the conveyance of a mutually agreeable public easement to the Town of Newtown for pedestrian, bicycling, equestrian, and all other passive recreational uses (to exclude the use of motorized vehicles except as may be necessary by the Town or its designee to effectuate the purpose of the easement), and for municipal utility purposes.