Regency At Newtown—

Wetlands Permit Sought For 60-Unit Condo Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

The Conservation Commission has scheduled a public hearing on a developer’s proposal to construct 60 age-restricted condominiums at an environmentally sensitive site off Oakview Road for 7:30 pm Wednesday, May 25, at the town offices at 31 Peck’s Lane.

The Conservation Commission, serving as the town’s wetlands agency, will conduct the hearing on the wetlands aspects of Toll Brothers, Inc’s proposal for Regency at Newtown.

Last January, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members approved a change of zone for a 52-acre parcel at 21 Oakview Road, thus allowing site planning to proceed for the property, which is near Newtown High School.

The property, which overlooks the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84, is owned by Watkins Brothers Development Corp. The site is in the town’s Aquifer Protection District (APD).

The P&Z’s change of zone converted the property’s zoning designation from R-2 (Residential) to EH-10 (Elderly Housing). R-2 zoning is designated for single-family houses on lots of at least two acres. EH-10 zoning is intended for high-density, multifamily housing for people over age 55. The change of zone specified that no more than 60 condos can be built on the site.

In receiving the change of zone, the developer cleared a major hurdle toward the project’s overall approval, but now must receive many individual town approvals for various aspects of the work.

Plans on file at the town land use office indicate that 12 buildings would be constructed on the site, each of which would contain five condominium units. The buildings would be situated approximately 50 feet apart from one another. Each building would be approximately 168 feet long. The complex would have 134 parking spaces.

A driveway extending from Oakview Road would lead to a ring-shaped road on the property. That ring road would have two extension spurs. Four buildings would be built inside the ring. Eight buildings would be constructed outside the ring, including structures on the two spur roads. The project would involve the construction of 2,250 linear feet of roadway.

A retaining wall would be constructed to stabilize a slope on the site. Approximately one-third of the site would be developed. The developed area would lie on a plateau overlooking wetlands adjacent to the nearby Pootatuck River. The highest point on the site is 330 feet above sea level, while the lowest point is 242 feet above sea level, representing an elevation change of 88 feet.

The developer proposes the alteration of about 750 square feet of wetlands. Approximately 200 cubic yards of earthen fill would be moved in that regulated area.

Toll Brothers would need a wetlands permit in order to construct a building’s foundation at the top edge of an embankment, which lies approximately 100 feet from a wetland.

The project would have municipal sanitary sewer service. A public water supply would be provided. Electric, telephone, and cable television utility lines would be buried on the site.

The channeling of stormwater flow on the site would be keyed to “best management practices,” according to Milone & MacBroom, Inc of Cheshire, the project’s engineers.

The site would contain two stormwater control basins to regulate drainage flowing off the site after rainstorms.

The south-to-north flowing Pootatuck River forms the western boundary of the site. The western side of the site includes the wetlands associated with the river.

In a past letter to the P&Z, Don Mysling, a senior fisheries biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has raised concerns about the proposed Oakview Road development.

The western boundary of the site abuts a “Class 1 wild trout management area,” which is one of eight such areas in the state where trout breed naturally. The Pootatuck River contains native brook trout, wild brown trout, rainbow trout, blacknose dace, common shiners, tessellated darters, and white suckers.

Although the state stocks the Pootatuck River with adult brook, brown, and rainbow trout, the state has stopped its river stocking in the section of the river near the development site because trout reproduce naturally there. That one-mile-long river reach, lying both north and south of Deep Brook’s confluence with the Pootatuck River, supports an abundant, wild, self-sustaining trout population, which provides high quality wild trout fishing, Mr Mysling explained. Fishing is allowed year-round. Anglers are required to release their catch.

Mr Mysling provided the P&Z with a detailed series of environmental measures needed to protect the Pootatuck River, if the Oakview Road site is developed.

The developer proposes constructing three separate stormwater drainage systems on the site. They would be designed to channel stormwater off the site and protect water quality, while minimizing the drainage’s adverse effects on wetlands and watercourses downstream.

The narrow, hilly, winding Oakview Road links Berkshire Road to Wasserman Way. There are about 12 houses on Oakview Road.

In April 2004, it was the high traffic volume that a condo complex would generate on Oakview Road that resulted in the P&Z rejecting Toll Brothers’ initial request for a change of zone for the condo project.

At that time, the developer had proposed constructing 80 condo units, representing a third more units than now proposed. Also, at that time, the proposal did not include provisions to shunt traffic traveling to and from the condo complex onto the northern end of Oakview Road, as does the current proposal.

Toll Brothers wants to construct a housing complex that is architecturally similar to a project that the firm is now building on Route 25 in Trumbull, known as Regency Meadows at Trumbull. In order for Toll Brothers to build such a design, the P&Z would need to modify some of its EH-10 housing regulations.

Besides the approved change of zone from the P&Z and a wetlands permit from the Conservation Commission, to build an age-restricted condo complex, Toll Brothers would need: a municipal sewer connection; zoning rule amendments to allow its architectural design to be built; a special exception to the zoning regulations from the P&Z; a site development plan approval from the P&Z, and an aquifer protection approval from the P&Z, based on an aquifer protection review conducted by the Conservation Commission.

The Water and Sewer Authority has tentatively approved providing a sanitary sewer connection for the complex.