Condo Complex Environmental Review Continuing

By Andrew Gorosko

Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) members are continuing their environmental review of a Danbury developer’s controversial proposal to construct 26 mixed-income condominium units on Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

IWC members are slated to resume a public hearing on developer Guri Dauti’s proposal for Edona Commons on February 14, Conservation Official Rob Sibley said this week.

Dauti Construction, LLC, proposes a 26-unit townhouse-style complex in six buildings situated on a steep, rugged 4.5-acre site at 95-99 Church Hill Road. Eight condos would be reserved for low-income and moderate-income families.

Last May, IWC members approved a wetlands permit for a 23-unit version of the condo complex at a 4.04-acre site at the same location. That permit listed 16 separate conditions of approval. 

However, last August, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members rejected the 23-unit version of Edona Commons complex, citing a host of reasons, including traffic issues and a high construction density.

Mr Dauti then filed an appeal in Danbury Superior Court, challenging the P&Z’s rejection of the 23-unit project. He later filed another P&Z application seeking to build 26 condos at the site.

Mr Dauti’s current IWC application seeks a revised wetlands permit in view of the current development proposal’s larger site and larger number of condos. The current proposal includes additional driveways and vehicle parking at the site, said Mr Sibley.

Also, the developer proposes adding a “rain garden” at the site, which would allow stormwater that runs off a roof to disperse into the nearby soil. Rain gardens are depressions in the ground that are planted with wetlands vegetation.

Also, on February 14, IWC members are expected to review the developer’s aquifer protection report for the condo construction proposal, Mr Sibley said. A portion of the site is located above the Pootatuck Aquifer, an underground water source.

As the town’s aquifer protection agency, the IWC reviews developers’ aquifer protection plans and determines whether construction proposals will have or will not have significant adverse effects on the underlying aquifer. The IWC makes an aquifer protection recommendation to the P&Z, which then acts on the matter.

Last spring, when the 23-unit version of Edona Commons was under review by town land use agencies, the project failed to get the IWC’s aquifer protection endorsement.

The IWC cited the developer’s not having received Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) approval for a municipal sanitary sewer connection as one of the reasons for his failure to receive an aquifer protection endorsement.

Last July, citing excessive construction density for the then-proposed 23-unit project, the WSA recommended that the P&Z not grant a necessary change of zone for the project. That WSA action effectively denied the project a sewer system connection.

Mr Dauti then filed an appeal in Danbury Superior Court against the WSA, in seeking to overturn the WSA’s action. That lawsuit is pending in court.

On January 18, the P&Z closed a public hearing on the 26-unit version of Edona Commons. The agency has until late March to act on the application.

It is Mr Dauti’s fourth attempt to develop the site with a multifamily mixed-income housing complex. 

In an initial 2003 attempt to develop the site, Dauti Construction sought to build 16 condo units. In a second failed attempt early in 2004, Dauti sought to build 12 condo units. The P&Z short-circuited both those efforts by rejecting the developer’s proposals for revisions to the town’s Affordable Housing Development (AHD) regulations.