An attorney for a development firm that wants to build a major multifamily rental complex at a 35-acre site at 79 Church Hill Road, near the Exit 10 interchange of Interstate 84, is scheduled to discuss the availability of municipal sanitary sewer service for such construction with Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) members at 7 pm, on Thursday, May 11, at the sewage treatment plant office building at 24 Commerce Road.

A lawyer from the firm Shipman & Goodwin, LLP, of Hartford, representing developer 79 Church Hill Road, LLC, is slated to discuss "development options and possible sewer capacity" at the session, according to an April 28 letter from the legal firm to Fred Hurley, town director of public works.

The undeveloped roughly triangular site is bounded on the south by Church Hill Road, on the east by Walnut Tree Hill Road, on the north by seven properties along Evergreen Road, and on the west by westbound Interstate 84 and its Exit 10 interchange.

Mr Hurley said May 9 that the developer has not yet submitted an application for municipal sanitary sewer service for the site. A potential application for rental apartment construction under the terms of the Planning and & Zoning Commission's (P&Z) Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) overlay zone regulations could range as high as 225 apartments, he said.

IH-10 zoning regulations require that at least 20 percent of the units in a high-density housing complex be designated as affordable housing units, and be rented to eligible tenants at reduced rates.

In April 2015, WSA members unanimously rejected 79 Church Hill Road, LLC's, controversial request for sanitary sewer service for the site. Although the developer never specified the number of dwellings proposed, the firm's gallonage request reflected sewer service for 350 units. That WSA application drew intense opposition from people living near the site.

Besides WSA approval, a multifamily residential project would require approvals from the P&Z, the Inland Wetlands Commission, and the Aquifer Protection Agency.