Developer Seeks Four House Lots On 40 Acres

By Andrew Gorosko

A land developer has proposed the construction of a four-lot residential subdivision on a 40-acre site at 40-50 Mile Hill Road South, which is suspected of holding pollutants.

At an April 20 public hearing, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members reviewed design plans from developer Jack Samowitz of Stratford. No new road construction would be required, as the four building lots would have frontage on Mile Hill Road South.

The narrow, hilly, winding north-south Mile Hill Road South links Wasserman Way to Turkey Hill Road. The site lies on the west side of Mile Hill Road South, between that road and the Housatonic Railroad’s rail freight line.

The site has much marginal land. An unusually large amount of the 40-acre site would be designated as open space. Of the 40 acres, 17 acres, or about 42 percent of the site, would be reserved as open space. The proposed four lots would range from 2.5 acres to 8.8 acres in area. A set of electrical high-tension lines runs above the property.

P&Z Chairman William O’Neil cautioned P&Z members that there is apparently an unstable  plume of subterranean groundwater pollution in the area of the proposed subdivision. Testing for pollution has been conducted in the area, he said.

“The land may not be safe. The [groundwater] may not be safe,” Mr O’Neil said.

Mr O’Neil asked how the P&Z could approve subdividing such land for residential development when serious questions exist about the site’s safety.

“It seems like a high-risk situation,” to ask the P&Z to approve developing such property, he said.

Much technical information on pollution hazards in the area has been generated by a consulting engineering firm that has studied the problem, Mr O’Neil said. Metcalf & Eddy of Wallingford has researched the pollution aspects of the site.

In June 2004, the Conservation Commission, acting as the town’s wetlands agency, approved allowing Metcalf & Eddy to drill monitoring wells on the 40-50 Mile Hill Road site to check for possible groundwater pollution.

At the public comment section of the April 20 hearing, area residents said there are pollution hazards in the area due to groundwater contamination.

The P&Z closed the public hearing on the subdivision application and took no action on the development proposal.