Following detailed review during the past several months, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have conditionally approved The Preserve at Newtown, a planned 23-lot residential subdivision on 167 acres in Dodgingtown.

Notably, about half of the subdivision site would be preserved as undeveloped open space land which will be open to the public and reserved for low-intensity passive forms of recreation, such as hiking and nature study.

After discussion at a February 19 session, P&Z members unanimously approved the development project. Voting in favor were Chairman Robert Mulholland, Michael Porco, Sr, Jim Swift, Frank Corigliano, and Fred Taylor.

Developer/builder George L. Trudell II, attended the P&Z session. Mr Trudell represents the applicants who are the developers KASL, LLC, and IBF, LLC.

Under the developers’ plans, one housing cluster of nine single-family dwellings would be built along the southeast side of Robin Hill Road #2, which is a dead-end street extending northeastward from Rock Ridge Road, near Rock Ridge Country Club.

The other cluster of single-homes home would be built along a planned quarter-mile dead-end street extending southeastward from Scudder Road, south of Ferris Road.

The subdivision is expected to take a number of years to complete, depending upon housing market conditions.

Starting last November, the P&Z conducted heavily attended public hearings on The Preserve application.

At those public hearings, some Scudder Road area residents stressed they fear that their already unreliable domestic well water supplies would be diminished after new homes are built in that area and then start drawing up subterranean water through new wells. The developer has responded that there will be sufficient underground water in the area for the new residents of the new subdivision, as well as current residents of the area.

Other issues raised include increased traffic flow and relatively high construction densities at the two housing clusters at the subdivision site.

Mr Mulholland told Mr Trudell that the P&Z had been withholding action on The Preserve application because a required archaeological study of the site has not yet been completed. Adverse weather has delayed that report’s completion, Mr Mulholland noted.

In May 2009, the P&Z created a set of land use regulations intended to preserve the significant archaeological, historic, and cultural features of land proposed for subdivisions and resubdivisions. Those regulations require that developers obtain a professional study of a development site to gauge its archaeological, historic, and cultural significance, and also to preserve significant features, as needed.

In approving The Preserve, P&Z members required that no building permits be issued for four of its building lots until a final archaeological study is submitted to the town showing that the planned construction work would have no significant adverse effects on those four lots and/or that suitable steps would be taken to preserve any significant archaeological features which are found there.

In approving The Preserve, P&Z members placed a range of conditions on their endorsement, including performance bonding totaling nearly $600,000.

The approval requires that the developer file a performance bond in the amount $163,225 with the town for various improvements that would be made to Robin Hill Road #2. The developer has told the P&Z that subdivision construction would commence at that street.

Also, the P&Z is requiring that a separate performance bond in the amount of $428,260 be submitted to cover the planned construction of a new road, to be known as Deer Hill Road, extending off Scudder Road. P&Z members said that no building permits would be issued for Deer Hill Road until after that performance bond is submitted.

George Benson, town director of planning, told P&Z members that because the two housing clusters planned for the development site are so widely separated, it is as if the project is two subdivisions, resulting in the two separate performance bonds.

Also, when work is set to start on the planned new road at some point in the future, the town would review the bonding amount for that work to learn whether it needs to be adjusted, he said.

Other conditions placed on the subdivision approval include that the developers reach a formal road work and stormwater drainage agreement with the town concerning improvements that they would make to town roads in the area near the subdivision.

Also, the developers must permanently field-mark the conservation buffers and the open space areas at the subdivision, as well as the access easements on each building lot.

Following the approval, Mr Trudell told P&Z members, “Thank you very much. I appreciate all your time.”

The Preserve gained a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) in November following a series of heavily attended hearings.

Open Space Conservation Subdivision

The Preserve is different in its general design than previous subdivisions approved by the P&Z in that it conforms to the “open space conservation subdivision” (OSCS) regulations. The Preserve is the first such OSCS project to gain P&Z approval. Such designs are intended to preserve a large amount of undeveloped open space, with a minimum 50 percent of a site reserved as open space.

In an effort to limit the “suburban sprawl” that is created by conventional large-lot subdivisions, the P&Z in 2004 formulated the OSCS rules. Those zoning and planning rules seek to have developments “cluster” single-family houses on relatively smaller lots on a site, rather than spreading them out on relatively larger lots across the terrain.

Through such clustering, a relatively larger amount of open space is created at a development site. In the case of The Preserve, approximately 50 percent of the site will be preserved as open space for passive, low-intensity forms of public recreation, such as hiking and nature study. By comparison, the land-use rules governing large-lot subdivisions require that a minimum 15 percent of the site be designated as open space.

The OSCS rules provide an incentive to developers in the form of a “density bonus,” which allows ten percent more building lots to be created in an OSCS development plan than would be allowed under the terms of the land use regulations covering conventional large-lot subdivisions.

The Preserve at Newtown is the largest residential subdivision, in terms of the number of building lots, to gain P&Z approval since the subdivision known as Meridian Ridge received P&Z endorsement in August 2003. Meridian Ridge is a 23-lot subdivision on 71 acres off Old Hawleyville Road, near Interstate 84.

Commenting on the P&Z’s approval of The Preserve, Mr Benson said this week, “It’s the first open space conservation subdivision we’ve had.”

“The huge open space [area] we’re getting is what the [OSCS] regulations were written for,” he said.

The relatively smaller houses that are part of OSCS projects are the types of houses now preferred by new homebuyers, he said.

In October 2013, the OSCS-style residential subdivision known as Sherman Woods gained a wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the IWC, but its developer has never sought the required P&Z approval for that project.

Sherman Woods is proposed as a 42-lot subdivision on a 158-acre site, where 107 acres would be preserved as open space land. That site is in Sandy Hook near Sherman Street, Still Hill Road, Toddy Hill Road, and Sugarloaf Road.

Sherman Woods initially was proposed as a conventional large-lot subdivision in 2009. But IWC members rejected that design, resulting in the developer filing a court appeal which took four years to resolve. The developer then submitted the OCSC-style version of the Sherman Woods project for IWC review, which was approved.