The Borough Zoning Commission approved, with seven stipulations, an application for a cluster subdivision at 20-60 Castle Hill Road at a contentious meeting on February 19.

The commission voted 4-1 to approve the application, with members Douglas Nelson, David Francis, Richard Davis, and Douglas McDonald voting for, and Claudia Mitchell voting against.

The application was asking for the approval of a 117 home cluster subdivision on 20 Castle Hill Road while leaving 60 Castle Hill Road, including Reservoir Road, which is part of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, often locally referred to as the Rochambeau Trail, as part of a proposed open space easement representing roughly 85 acres of the total 132 acres.

The stipulations are:

Area and building lighting shall not exceed LED 3000K, shall conform to the standards set forth in Zoning Regulation 7.10, and similarly be consistent with the Zoning Regulations’ dark sky initiatives.

Thirty feet of land, adjacent to the development’s stone wall, shall include “additional dense vegetation,” as specified by the State Historic Preservation Office. If this area of vegetation cannot be fully accommodated, the applicant shall inform the Newtown Borough Zoning Commission on alternate measures that shall be taken “to avoid or minimize” the project’s indirect effects on the historic site in accordance with the Zoning Regulations’ intention to protect vistas of historic value, Zoning Regulations 4.04.2.

Additional landscaping within the 200 foot front setback area shall be added to limit visibility of the buildings from Mt Pleasant Road.

Additional landscaping within the 100 foot side setback shall be added along Castle Hill Road in the areas of Pumpkin Lane, Cornfield Ridge Road and Old Castle Drive to limit visibility of the buildings from Castle Hill Road.

A Conservation Easement shall be provided in favor of the Borough of Newtown to conserve the parcels located at 20 and 60 Castle Hill Road and identified in the 20 and 60 Castle Hill Road Site Development and Special Exception applications. Such Conservation Easement shall provide access to the public, for pedestrian use only, for the existing trail along the lake side of the property (and other existing trails). This Conservation Easement is intended to promote the health and general welfare of residents of the Borough of Newtown and shall be granted prior to applying for any permits or commencing any site work on the property.

After the completion of 50 percent of the proposed units, a status review shall be conducted to evaluate the progress of the development, traffic flow entering and departing the development and expanding the use of the secondary accessway intended for use by emergency vehicles only.

The number of dwelling units identified in the 20 and 60 Castle Hill Site Development and Special Exception applications shall be reduced by 18 dwelling units to a maximum of 99 units by eliminating units 55 through 70 from the applications. The additional open space produced from reducing the number of dwelling units shall be included in the open space identified in the 20 and 60 Castle Hill Site Development and Special Exception applications.

Earlier in the meeting, the commission argued about the acceptance of two different protest petitions, one received in August 2024 and the other received a few days before the meeting on February 17. Members of the audience expressed upset and consternation as the commission agreed 4-1, with only Claudia Mitchell voting against, to not accept the newest protest petition. Grassroots organization Newtown Conservation Coalition founder Dave Ackert noted “they didn’t even read” the new protest petition, which Ackert felt resolved problems noted with the August 2024 petition expressed by the commission at the January meeting.

The commission found the February 2025 protest petition to be “untimely.”

Mitchell as well as members of the audience argued against that, believing that the August 2024 petition should have been accepted or rejected by the commission much earlier than January 2025, which would have given the public more time to get a new petition in before deadlines. Nelson stated the deadline was when a vote was taken, but felt that since a vote could have been taken on the first day of deliberation, that anything beyond December 2024 was too late for a new petition to be submitted. Mitchell felt that waiting until January to review the protest petition and February to vote on it means it would be more “fair” to the public to accept the new petition.

The commission did consider the August 2024 petition, which Nelson said was “not consistent with state statute or borough statute.” Acceptance of the protest petition would have meant that a supermajority of four commissioners would have been required to approve the site development application.

Ackert expressed frustration over the commission’s refusal to accept either petition in an interview following the meeting, but admitted that given the final vote, the petition’s acceptance or lack thereof was a moot point.

The commission proceeded to vote on a number of findings, on things such as whether the commission finds the plan to be in conformance with the Plan of Conservation and Development, or whether the design of the buildings was in harmony with the surrounding area. Most of which were approved of by the commission on 4-1 votes, with Mitchell usually voting against. A few were approved 3-2, with either McDonald or Davis defecting into the “no” column.

Two findings did not pass — including whether the proposed development presented a traffic hazard, which Davis, Mitchell, and McDonald all voted “does not find.”

Following the meeting, the founder of the grassroots organization Newtown Conservation Coalition noted the house reduction and public access to open space as good things, but thought there would be appeals to the overall approval.

“I still think the plan is too dense,” said Ackert, who added he didn’t feel the town “followed the proper protocols” in the approval.

Castle Hill Developer George Trudell was happy with the approval, but says he plans to “question” some of the stipulations.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.