The Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) is having an appraisal firm review the estimated value of a 65-unit multifamily complex planned for Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center, now that the complex would contain rental apartments, rather than condominiums, as had been previously planned.

Fred Hurley, director of public works, said January 17 he expects that the real estate value of a 65-unit rental apartment complex would be significantly lower than that of a 65-unit condo complex, meaning that the fee that the project's owner would need to pay the town for the installation of sanitary sewer lines to serve the complex would be significantly lower than the fee that would be charged for a 65-unit condo complex. Recently, the WSA had estimated the sewer connection costs for a 65-unit condo complex at roughly $700,000. "It could be significantly less," Mr Hurley said.

The project, which has the working name of The River Walk at Sandy Hook Village, would be constructed on an 11.4-acre site at #10 through #22 Washington Avenue, on the west side of that street, near the Pootatuck River. Construction is expected to start this spring.

Mr Hurley said he expects there to be "a substantial [cost] reduction based on our prior experience." He declined to offer an estimate on the sewer connection costs for an apartment complex. Besides sewer connection costs, sewer usage fees are levied by the town.

An apartment complex would be considered "commercial" construction rather than "residential" construction, resulting in the decreased valuation and consequent lower sewer connection costs, Mr Hurley said.

Mr Hurley said the town has sufficient waste treatment capacity at the Commerce Road sewage treatment plant for the wastewater from a 65-unit apartment complex. Gravity-powered sewer lines in Sandy Hook Center drain to a sewage pumping station on Glen Road, which then sends sewage via a force main to the treatment plant.

In a related matter, Steve Maguire, town land use enforcement officer, said January 18 that the 2015 approval that the project received from the Aquifer Protection Agency (APA) when the project was planned as a condo complex, will remain in effect for the now-planned apartment complex.

"It's just reconfigured," Mr Maguire said. As currently planned, the project "would have no adverse effect on the aquifer," he said. The site lies above the environmentally sensitive Pootatuck Aquifer.

The current apartment version of the project would involve somewhat less impervious surface area being created at the site than the previous condo version of the plan would have created.

On January 5, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) endorsed a significantly modified version of River Walk. As was previously planned, 13 of the 65 dwellings there would be designated as affordable housing and be rented out to tenants at much lower prices than the 52 market-rate units.

The modified River Walk project involves several significant changes in the condo plans that the P&Z approved in August 2015. Because the units would be rentals and not condominiums, the dwellings would generally be somewhat smaller than previously planned. The land and the rights to develop the project would be sold by Sandy Hook developer Michael Burton to Ridgefield developer Patrick Downend.

Among the other modifications are a freestanding community center for apartment residents, and an adjacent outdoor in-ground swimming pool. Six smaller multiunit buildings are now configured as three larger multiunit buildings situated in different locations, and a multiunit building located nearest to Washington Avenue would decrease from three stories to two stories.

On January 5, P&Z members opted by verbal consensus against requiring Mr Burton to submit an application for a revised special permit to construct the project. Thus no public hearing was held on the design modifications. Also, by verbal consensus, P&Z members endorsed the various design changes to the project.

The modified project will not be submitted to the Inland Wetlands Commission for review because town land use officials do not consider the design changes significant enough to warrant such review.

The various design changes for the project that were endorsed by the P&Z are keyed to a set of revised maps submitted by Mr Burton to the Land Use Agency.