Walnut Tree Developers Seek Permission To Move Four Condo Units
Walnut Tree Developers Seek Permission To Move Four Condo Units
By Andrew Gorosko
Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are awaiting detailed landscaping plans from Walnut Tree Developers, as part of the developersâ proposal to change the planned location of four condominium units in the Walnut Tree Village condo complex expansion project.
The 80-unit complex on Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook is expanding by 110 units to a total of 190 units. The proposal to expand Walnut Tree Village drew strong opposition from nearby property owners at past P&Z meetings. Walnut Tree Village is intended for people over 55.
P&Z members held a July 5 public hearing on the developersâ request for an amendment to their special exception to the zoning regulations, which is required by the P&Z to shift the location of the four planned condo units.
Last September, as part of its 110-unit expansion approval, the P&Z granted the developers permission to build a seven-unit condominium building near the top of a ridge on the site.
However, in order to settle of one of the three lawsuits that were filed against the developers after the P&Z approved the expansion project, the developers agreed not to build four of those seven units in that location.
The location is adjacent to the property of Michael and Kathleen Nowak of 7 Patriot Ridge Road. The Nowaks were plaintiffs in that lawsuit, along with plaintiffs Keith and Mary OâDonnell of 8 Patriot Ridge Road.
As result of the legal settlement, the developers are now seeking P&Z approval to shift those four units to a different location on their property about 325 feet to the south.
In May, the Conservation Commission endorsed shifting the location of the four planned condos.
P&Z members July 5 asked that the developers submit a detailed landscaping plan for the site, describing how the sloped and tiered area would be designed and built. The public hearing to address those landscaping plans will resume at a future P&Z session.
The developersâ calculations indicate that if the four units were constructed in the location which was originally approved by the P&Z, it would have required the removal of 450 cubic yards of earth material to prepare the site for construction for those four units. However, repositioning the four units about 325 feet to the south would require the removal of about 11,970 cubic yards of earth material, according to the developers.
In a letter to the P&Z, Mary Burnham and John Bestor of 24 Walnut Tree Hill Road write that the proposed new location for the four condo units is a poor choice which would pose practical problems. The four units would be near a sharply curved driveway and near steep slopes, they write. Also, the particular location would pose fire truck and ambulance access problems, they add. Ms Burnham and Mr Bestor write that the developers did not recognize the particular needs of the elderly when selecting an alternate location for the four units. Ms Burnham and Mr Bestor urged the P&Z to scale back the developersâ construction plans.
Ms Burnham filed one of the other two lawsuits which had been lodged against the developers after the P&Zâs September 2000 approval of the condo expansion project. That lawsuit has been settled.
The third lawsuit, which was filed against the developers by Duane and Linda Jones of 16 Walnut Tree Hill Road, also has been settled.