Following discussion at a July 12 Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) session, WSA members unanimously endorsed an agreement with development firm 79 Church Hill Road LLC that creates a "temporary hold" on nearly 21,000 gallons of daily municipal sewage treatment capacity for that firm's proposed 141-unit Hunters Ridge rental apartment building.

Voting in favor of the agreement were WSA Chairman Marianne Brown, Richard Zang, Alan Shepard, Eugene Vetrano, and Louis Carbone. WSA members Carl Zencey and George Hill did not attend.

The current version of Hunters Ridge represents the fifth proposal that the developer has made to the town for the project, which would be built at a 0.75-acre site at 79 Church Hill Road, near westbound Interstate 84's Exit 10 interchange ramps. The initial version of the project, which was submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) last December, specified 224 rental apartments in six buildings, more than 55,000 square feet of commercial space in two buildings, and a clubhouse.

That proposal drew strong opposition from people living in the area. They charged that such growth would amount to the overdevelopment of that area.

The initial version of the project involved a 35-acre site, only a small fraction of which is in the central sewer district. The developers had sought to have the WSA expand the sewer district to include all 35 acres within it. But the WSA later rejected expanding the sewer district for the project.

It had been thought that about 3.5 acres of the 35-acre site, which were nearest to Church Hill Road, were within the sewer district, but town research later indicated that only about 0.75 acres nearest Church Hill Road are actually within the sewer district.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, told WSA members on July 12 that Town Attorney David Grogins has decided that 79 Church Hill Road LLC does not need to submit another sewer application to the WSA for the latest version of the project. As such, the firm's existing WSA sewer application can be modified and remain under WSA review, Mr Hurley said.

Project Modifications

In the latest version of the project, the development firm is proposing that it construct one six-story building on the site near Church Hill Road that would hold 141 rental apartments, 43 of which would be designated as affordable housing units. The 43 affordable units would be offered to income-eligible people at significantly lower prices than the 98 market rate units. The developer is seeking 20,868 gallons of daily sewage treatment capacity for the 141 dwellings.

Before the 20,868-gallon request, the town had approximately 33,000 gallons of unallocated municipal sewage treatment capacity remaining at the Commerce Road sewage treatment plant, which started operations in 1997.

Under the terms of the WSA's July 12 action, the WSA has placed a "temporary hold" on the availability of 20,868 gallons of daily sewage treatment capacity for use by Hunters Ridge, provided that the applicant submits complete development applications for the project to the P&Z and to the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) within six months.

Also, the applicant must receive approvals for the projects from the P&Z and the IWC within eight months after those applications are submitted. The developer may apply for time extensions from the WSA for the submission and approval of the P&Z and the IWC plans. Also, before any building permit for Hunters Ridge is issued, an expansion of pumping capacity at the Sandy Hook Center sewage pumping station must be complete.

If 79 Church Hill Road LLC does not meet the conditions of the "temporary hold" agreement for sewage capacity, the affected gallonage would be reclassified and revert to "unallocated capacity" available for other uses.

Affordable Housing

Unlike the initial version of the project, which was submitted under the terms of the P&Z's Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations, the current version of the project would fall under the terms of the state's Affordable Housing Appeals Act (AHAA), also known by its legal citation, "8-30g," according to the developer.

While IH-10 regulations require at least 20 percent of the dwellings to be designated as affordable, the AHAA rules require at least 30 percent of the units to be affordable.

Some of the proposed parking for the 141-unit apartment complex would be in the sewer district, but most parking would lie outside the sewer district. Vehicular access to the property would be at Walnut Tree Hill Road. Based on mapping provided to the WSA, the Iroquois Gas Transmission Company's existing cross-country natural gas pipeline would pass below the parking lots, but not below the proposed apartment building.

The current development proposal would involve construction of a single rental apartment building with length/width dimensions of 160 feet by 80 feet. A typical story would contain about 24 dwellings. The structure would hold about 76,800 square feet of enclosed space.

Because such a zoning application would be submitted under the state's AHAA provisions, the specifics of the project would not conform with the P&Z's IH-10 zoning regulations. In the event that such an application is rejected by a municipality's zoning commission, the developer then appeals that decision in Superior Court under the AHAA law.

If the court rules in favor of the developer, the developer then formulates a set of unique zoning regulations that apply only to the construction proposal at hand, and the project is then built under the terms of those zoning regulations, with the zoning commission being ordered by the court to endorse the project.

The town went through a similar process nearly a decade ago, when a court ruled against the P&Z and the WSA in two lawsuits brought against them by Dauti Construction. That court victory led to the construction of Edona Commons, a 26-unit condominium complex containing eight affordable dwellings at 95 & 99 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center.

Newtown, among other municipalities, is under a state mandate to increase its stock of affordable housing. The AHAA process is a means by which that state mandate is implemented.

The 35-acre site at 79 Church Hill Road is bordered on the south by Church Hill Road, on the east by Walnut Tree Hill Road, on the north by residential properties on Evergreen Road, and on the west by the Exit 10 interchange.