The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to review and possibly act on a proposal to modify the configuration and architectural aspects of a 65-unit condominium complex planned for Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center when the P&Z meets on Thursday, January 5. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm at the Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

Plans for the proposed changes are available for public review at the Land Use Agency office at Newtown Municipal Center, weekdays from 8 am to 4:30 pm.

The 11.8-acre development site lies on the west side of Washington Avenue, near the Pootatuck River.

Notably, River Walk was the first multifamily housing complex to be approved locally under the terms of the Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations, which the P& Z created in January 2015.

In such complexes, a minimum 20 percent of the dwellings must be designated as affordable housing and reserved for individuals and families with low and moderate incomes. In the case of River Walk, the complex would have 13 such affordable dwellings with reduced prices. The other 52 units would be sold at much higher market-rate prices.

As an incentive to have developers create affordable housing, the IH-10 zoning rules allow a much higher construction density than would normally be permitted for a given site. Thus the developer's income stemming from the project's high construction density subsidizes the cost of constructing the units to be sold as affordable housing. Affordable housing units are deed-restricted for 30 years as dwellings for low-and moderate-income people.