Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have reviewed some modifications to the site plan for The Summit at Newtown, endorsing a reduction in the number of parking spaces planned for the sloped 2.5-acre site at 146 South Main Street (Route 25).

The property's planned residential use involving 20 rental apartments will require less parking than its previously planned hybrid use involving both residences and commercial tenants.

Reviewing the construction plans on June 21 were Jim Swift, who served as the P&Z's acting chairman, Robert Mulholland, Corrine Cox, Barbara Manville, Roy Meadows, and Benjamin Toby.

Town Land Use Director George Benson presented the revised plans to P&Z members, explaining that a purely residential use of the site requires less parking than a commercial/residential use. The planning changes result in the number of spaces being cut from 57 to 41.

The site on the west side of South Main Street holds a 18,750-square-foot two-level building whose construction the P&Z approved in July 2014. That approval for the site in a B-2 (General Business) zone allowed there to be up to ten apartments on the upper level and commercial space on the lower level.

However, following business setbacks experienced by its previous owners, the partially-constructed and never-occupied building physically deteriorated due to weathering. Its new owners have repaired the building during recent weeks.

To stimulate interest in some firm acquiring and completing the Summit project, in January, P&Z members approved a unique set of zoning regulations under the terms of the South Main Village Design District (SMVDD) overlay zone. Those regulations, known as Special Design District-6 (SDD-6), apply to that site. The SDD-6 rules allow the entire building to be used for rental apartments, with a maximum number of 20 dwellings permitted.

The property earlier this month was sold for $900,000 by General Real Estate Holdings LLC of Danbury to Joseph Voll and Clorinda Parente, co-trustees of Voll Irrevocable Trust.

Because the site is not near the town's central sanitary sewer system, the multifamily complex would require large-scale septic systems for wastewater disposal. With the site containing much rock ledge, those septic systems would require engineered designs. The two septic systems to be used are designed to handle a total of 3,000 gallons of wastewater daily.

Mr Voll has said he hopes to have the first ten apartments on the upper level of the building ready for occupancy by August 1, with the second ten apartments on the lower level available by October 1.

The rental apartments would be limited to one-bedroom each due to the waste disposal limitations posed by community septic systems.