Town Agencies Launch $1.7 Million Hawleyville Sewer Line

By Andrew Gorosko

Three town agencies have endorsed the Water Pollution Control Authority’s (WPCA) plan to extend a sanitary sewer line about one mile into Hawleyville to spur economic development in that largely undeveloped section of town.

Conservation Commission members January 12 endorsed construction drawings for the $1.7-million project. The WPCA had submitted revised design plans requested by the Conservation Commission in light of the project’s effect on wetlands, said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

The commission sought the revised plans to minimize potential negative effects on a wetland on the northern side of Mt Pleasant Road.

 The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) January 6 unanimously endorsed the WPCA’s sewer extension proposal for a sewer main which will run alongside Mt Pleasant Road from the Bethel town line to the area of Violette Road.

On January 5, Legislative Council members unanimously endorsed the sewering project.

The WPCA has scheduled a public hearing on the sewer construction project for Thursday, January 27, at 7:30 pm at Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen Street. The project would be financed by $1.7 million in town bonding. The WPCA is expected to act on the proposal after fielding public comments on the project.

The proposed sewer construction marks the first phase of a two-phase project which would eventually extend sanitary sewers farther along Mt Pleasant Road to Hawleyville Road, and up Hawleyville Road to the vicinity of Exit 9 of Interstate-84.

 The $1.7-million first phase of the project would extend a sewer main to provide sewer service to The Homesteads at Newtown, a planned 298-unit housing complex for the elderly on Mt Pleasant Road now under construction on a 60-acre site near the Bethel town line.

Avalon Bay Communities, Inc, the developer of the proposed Avalon at Newtown, a 304-unit apartment complex proposed for a site just west of The Homesteads, withdrew plans for Avalon last fall after encountering stumbling blocks in obtaining town approvals to connect to the planned sewer system. Avalon is expected to return to the P&Z and Conservation Commission with revised development applications for its 40-acre site after it secures WPCA approval to connect to the sewer system.

 Unlike the central sewer system which serves the Borough, Sandy Hook Center and Taunton Pond North to correct groundwater pollution caused by failing septic systems, the Hawleyville sewer system is intended to stimulate to economic development in the largely undeveloped Hawleyville. The Hawleyville sewer system is physically separate from the central sewer system.

 Town officials expect that the Hawleyville sewer line will generate new development applications in the area it serves and adjacent areas.

State and federal funding covered a large share of the costs for the $34 million central sewer system. But because the Hawleyville sewer system is intended for economic development, not the correction of pollution problems, the town will cover sewer construction costs. In practical terms, companies with holdings served by the Hawleyville sewer system, such as The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, will reimburse the town for the direct benefit they receive from sewer access.

The initial extension of sewers into Hawleyville involves construction of gravity-powered sewers, pressurized sewers and a sewage pumping station.

 Sewage discharged into the Hawleyville system will be carried via Bethel sewer lines to the Danbury sewage treatment plant on Plumtrees Road in that city.

 The Hawleyville sewer system, which is planned to take 150 days to build, is expected to be completed by the end of summer.  The owners of properties interested in connecting to the sewer system must apply to the WPCA.

The complete Hawleyville sewer system, including future construction phases, is expected to cost about $4.7 million.