Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are having the town engineering department review three sets of revised multifamily development plans submitted to the town on March 15. Those plans provide new technical information on The Riverwalk at Sandy Hook Village, a 74-unit housing complex proposed for the west side of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center.

Local builder/developer Michael Burton, Sr, doing business as Riverwalk Properties, LLC, is seeking a modified special zoning permit that would allow construction of the complex at a 11.8-acre site at 10-22 Washington Avenue, near the Pootatuck River.

The project is the fourth version of Riverwalk proposed by Mr Burton. Three previous versions of the complex gained town approvals during the past decade, but none of them were ever constructed.

On March 15, the P&Z closed its public hearing on the fourth version of Riverwalk, which had started on February 1.

P&Z Chairman Don Mitchell said that the town engineering department will work to verify that the applicant made certain requested changes in the development plans and also added certain requested data. Such information would include data on proposed earthen cutting and filling on the site, as well as an analysis of stormwater drainage flow.

Riverwalk is planned as a three-phase development project. During the second phase, the developer would construct a streetscape-style sidewalk to link the complex to the Sandy Hook Center business district near the intersection of Washington Avenue, Riverside Road, Glen Road, and Church Hill Road.

P&Z member Roy Meadows asked how residents living in the first phase of the complex would get to the business district. Mr Burton responded that they could use a trail on the property or instead walk along Washington Avenue to reach the business area. The delay in constructing the sidewalk is a financial consideration, Mr Burton said.

When considering that the town would not have the protection of a performance bond for the construction of a sidewalk, there is no guarantee that it would be built, said P&Z member Jim Swift. Consequently, Mr Swift suggested that the developer construct a simpler, conventional concrete sidewalk instead of a streetscape-style sidewalk.

Mr Burton said Washington Avenue is 28 feet wide, which is wide enough for pedestrian use until a sidewalk is constructed during the second phase of the project.

The P&Z is expected to discuss and possibly act on the fourth version of Riverwalk when it meets on April 5.

The Riverwalk project gained a modified wetlands/watercourses protection permit from the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) on February 28. Riverwalk would also need a modified permit from the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) to allow the discharge of wastewater from 74 dwellings into the central municipal sanitary sewer system. Riverwalk's approval for the third version of the project only covered the then-planned 65 dwellings.

The fourth version of the project increases the number of dwellings for the site from 65 to 74. The initial version of the project nearly a decade ago specified 24 units.

Application paperwork for the project lists the dwellings as condominiums. Mr Burton, however, has said that as the three-phase project is constructed, it could be in the form of both condos and rental apartments.

Because the project was submitted under the terms of the Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning regulations, 20 percent of the units, or 15 dwellings, would be designated as affordable housing and offered to people meeting certain income limits at significantly lower prices than the other 59 market-rate units.

According to mapping submitted by the applicant, the first construction phase of Riverwalk would hold 12 townhouses that would contain a total of 32 bedrooms. The second phase would hold 11 townhouses containing 28 bedrooms. The third phase would have 51 dwellings, including five townhouses and 46 flats. The third phase would have a total of 90 bedrooms.

On completion, the project would hold 150 bedrooms in 74 dwellings.