Sewer Panel Gets Details On Exit 10 Apartments

By Andrew Gorosko

A New Jersey firm has submitted preliminary drawings to the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) depicting the 126-unit luxury apartment complex that it wants to build in a wet area on the east side of Edmond Road, near Exit 10 of Interstate-84.

The drawing indicates seven apartment buildings, plus a clubhouse/leasing office and an outdoor swimming pool, arrayed across the 27-acre property owned by Harriet B. Edwards and The Reid S. and Nancy L. Barker Family Limited Partnership. Princewood Properties, LLC, of Princeton, N.J., the proposed developer of the property, has an option to buy the land, which has long been discussed as a potential development site.

Princewood proposes creating a total of 264 parking spaces, 81 of which would be inside garages and 12 of which would be designated as parking spaces for the swimming pool. Such a development project would require multiple approvals from town land use agencies.

In March, WPCA members had asked Princewood to formulate conceptual plans for the apartment complex it wants to build to provide members with a basis by which to evaluate the sewage treatment capacity requirements of the project.

The property is in an M-2 Industrial zone. A small section of the property near Church Hill Road is within the town’s sewer district.

Princewood has explained to WPCA members that the availability of sewer service would be a key aspect of the project, adding that unless the development firm is allocated sufficient sewage treatment capacity by the WPCA, it probably would not proceed with the project.

In a May 15 letter to WPCA Chairman Richard Zang, attorney William Denlinger, representing Princewood wrote, “We are going to propose regulations to the Planning and Zoning Commission [P&Z] that would allow multiple family housing facilities in this zone. If the [P&Z] accepts our proposal, then we believe our priority would be a [relatively high] ‘priority 2’ for allocation of [sewage treatment] capacity under… your sewer use regulations.”

Princewood has said that constructing a rental apartment complex on the site would require a change of zone from the town, from the existing industrial zone to a multi-family zone. 

The attorney suggests the possibility of building a hotel or motel on the site.

Mr Denlinger adds, “Currently, hotels and motels are allowed, by special exception, in the M-2 zone…  Our engineers estimate that a 150-200 room hotel/motel could be built on this property. This equates to an average design flow of 15,000 to 20,000 gallons per day at 100 gallons per bedroom. Such a project would require a [sewage] pre-treatment plant before discharge to a subsurface system.”

“Our current [126-unit luxury apartment complex] proposal will require an estimated 18,000-gallon-per-day average design flow capacity,” he adds.

 The Princewood project is one of the three high-density residential projects which have been proposed during the past several months for properties which are within the sewer district or near it. All three developers are seeking municipal sewer service.

 The other proposals are Benchmark Assisted Living’s proposal for a 78-unit assisted living complex for the elderly on Church Hill Road at The Boulevard, which is within the sewer district; and Ginsburg Development Connecticut, LLC’s, proposal for 110 townhouse condominium units for people over age 55, for a site on the west side of Mt Pleasant Road near Diamond Drive, which is near the sewer district.

WPCA Discussion

WPCA members discussed the Princewood proposal May 25.

“It’s a pretty intensive use” of the Edmond Road site, Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley said of the architectural drawing provided by Princewood. The developer proposes constructing garden-style apartment buildings in areas on the site which are not wet, he said.

“How realistic it is, I don’t know,” he added. “It looks like they’re trying to use every square inch of the property except where it’s wet,” he said.

Mr Zang asked what name the developer had in mind for a project on the wet site. “Something like Harbor View Apartments?” he quipped.

The property proposed for development lies on the east side of Edmond Road in the area between the Shell gas station on Church Hill Road and the Rand-Whitney cardboard box factory at the intersection of Edmond Road and Schoolhouse Hill Road.

At a March WPCA meeting, Mr Denlinger and engineer Mark Lancor of Dymar Engineering, who both represent Princewood, broached the development proposal with the WPCA.

The municipal sewer system was designed with current town zoning designations in mind. The WPCA has a development framework with which it decides how to allocate the town’s limited remaining sewage treatment capacity at the joint state-town sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road. The plant serves the town’s sewer district and the state’s Fairfield Hills property.

It remains unclear if the town would acquire additional sewage treatment capacity at the sewage plant if the town buys the core campus of Fairfield Hills from the state. The town currently owns about one-third of the 1 million gallons of daily treatment capacity at the sewage plant. The state owns the remainder.

WPCA members are expected to meet with Princewood representatives this month to discuss the development proposal.