The Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) last week granted a wetlands/watercourses protection permit to the developers of The Preserve at Newtown, a proposed 23-lot residential subdivision in Dodgingtown.

IWC members unanimously approved the application on Wednesday, November 12, following several months of review and public hearings on the plans for the 167-acre site.

The project is proposed by developers KASL, LLC, and IBF, LLC. The firms are represented by local developer/builder George L. Trudell.

The proposed development would be built along Robin Hill Road #2 and off Scudder Road.

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to start a public hearing on the Preserve proposal at 7:30 pm on Thursday, November 20, at Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

The P&Z reviews broader developmental issues than the IWC, which focuses on wetlands and watercourses protection.

IWC member Sharon Salling, who chaired the November 12 session, said that IWC members’ questions about the project have been suitably addressed by the developer. IWC member Anne Peters concurred.

In unanimously approving the development plans, IWC members placed a range of conditions on their endorsement.

Among those conditions, vegetative buffer strips must be created at the proposed Lot 13 and Lot 14 as an environmental protection measure.

Plantings at the site will be monitored by the town for two years, and would be replaced, if needed.

Also, erosion and sediment controls must be installed at the site before construction starts and be maintained during construction.

 The town must inspect and approve the field-marked limits of physical disturbance at the site before activity starts there.

Any changes to the site plans must be approved in advance of construction.

An environmental management consultant must be hired by the developer to oversee erosion and sedimentation control measures.

Voting to grant the wetlands/watercourses protection permit were Ms Salling, Ms Peters, Kristen Hammar, and Craig Ferris.

The proposed cluster-style development would concentrate new single-family houses on relatively small building lots in two areas on the sprawling site in order to leave approximately 84 acres, or about half of the overall tract, as undeveloped open space land. Such land would be open to the public for passive forms of recreation, such as hiking and nature study.

Nine house lots would be created along the southeast side of Robin Hill Road, which extends northeastward from Rock Ridge Road, near Rock Ridge Country Club.

A much larger cluster of house lots would be constructed along a proposed new quarter-mile-long dead-end street to be known as Deer Hill Drive, extending southeastward from Scudder Road, south of Ferris Road.

During the IWC’s public hearings on the application, comments included questions about the legal notification for the IWC public hearings, and potential adverse environmental effects caused by such development, including increased stormwater drainage along Scudder Road.

The developer responded that the public notification met applicable standards and that those environmental concerns have been well addressed in the project’s design.

The developer’s applications to both the P&Z and the IWC are available for public review during regular business hours at the town Land Use Agency offices at Newtown Municipal Center.