The Woods at Newtown—

178-Unit Condo Complex Gains Wetlands Permit

By Andrew Gorosko

The Conservation Commission has approved a wetlands permit for a 178-unit condominium complex proposed for a 50-acre site in Hawleyville, thus allowing the developer to seek Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approvals for the age-restricted project.

In a 4-to-0 vote on February 8, Conservation Commission members, serving as the town’s wetlands protection agency, approved a wetlands permit for The Woods at Newtown, a condo complex for people over age 55 proposed by Bashert Developers, LLC, of New City, N.Y., in Rockland County.

Voting to grant the wetlands permit were Chairman Sally O’Neil, Wesley Gillingham, Dr Philip Kotch, and Donald Collier. Member Anne Peters recused herself from voting.

Before the vote, commission members closed a public hearing on the development application, which had been conducted at January 25 and January 11 sessions.

Ms O’Neil told commission members that all the technical information that had been requested from the developer at the January 25 hearing had been received and reviewed. That information concerns surface water quality at the site, as well as steps that could be taken to lessen the construction project’s adverse effects on the site’s wetlands.

The site, which is a depleted sand-and-gravel mine, contains wet areas and streams.

Bashert wants to build a complex holding 132 congregate-style dwellings within ten apartment buildings, plus 46 independent-living condos located in a cluster of eight separate buildings. The project would include a clubhouse. Construction work would take three years to complete. The site has EH-10 (Elderly Housing) zoning, which is designated for high-density, multifamily development for people over age 55.

The 50-acre site, which has a street address of 12-16 Pocono Road, is adjacent to The Homesteads at Newtown. The Homesteads is a 100-unit assisted-living building, which gained construction approvals in 1998 and opened for business in March 2001.

A driveway at 166 Mt Pleasant Road (Route 6), which serves The Homesteads apartment building, also would serve the Bashert project. An accessway that links the 50-acre site to Pocono Road would be reserved for emergency use only.

In 2001, The Homesteads had received town approvals to build 178 dwellings on the 50-acre site, in the form of 132 congregate units and 46 condos. The Homesteads eventually built 12 age-restricted condos on the property, but they have never been occupied. The condos never received certificates of occupancy due to delinquent property taxes. Bashert would demolish those 12 unoccupied condos as part of its development plans for the site.

After entering bankruptcy, The Homesteads lost its assets. Bashert acquired the largely undeveloped 50-acre site last spring for $8.9 million. A separate firm, Newtown Senior Living, LLC, acquired the existing adjacent Homesteads 100-unit assisted-living building for $11.8 million.

Conditions of Approval

Conservation Commission members placed many conditions on the wetlands permit granted to Bashert.

Among those conditions, the commission is requiring soil erosion and sediment control devices to be installed at the site and be maintained until all soil disturbed by construction has been stabilized.

The conservation official must be given prior notice of the start of construction, as well as its completion. A copy of the approved wetlands protection plans must be available for review on the site.

The developer must employ a person to oversee its soil erosion and sediment control measures. That person must make weekly reports to the town.

The wetlands plans that the commission has approved may not be changed unless the developer seeks and receives formal approval to do so.

Before any construction starts, the area subject to conservation easements must have permanent markers installed to identify those areas. More than 20 acres of the 50-acre site will be subject to conservation easements, which prohibit the physical disturbance of those areas. Those easements generally are along the site’s border.

Also, the developer must submit for review and approval a maintenance schedule for the conservation areas on the site.

The developer must post a performance bond to cover wetlands protection work on the property.

Although Bashert wants to build the same number of dwellings as had been planned by The Homesteads, because Bashert has proposed a different site development plan, it must receive new town approvals for its project.

The developer proposes providing underground parking for 270 vehicles on the site beneath a courtyard that would be ringed by the ten congregate-housing apartment buildings.

People living in the 132 congregate-care units would receive at least one meal per day in a nearby clubhouse. The ten apartment buildings would be interconnected by a glass-walled corridor, so that residents need not go outdoors to reach the clubhouse, which would hold an indoor swimming pool.

The 46 independent-living condos situated within eight buildings would be located in another section of the site. Those units would have conventional garages and surface parking. 

Public water lines, sanitary sewers, electric lines, telephone cable, and cable television lines all would be located underground at the complex.