A Trumbull firm's proposal to construct 224 rental apartments, a clubhouse, and 55,940 square feet of commercial space, in the form of a shopping center, medical/dental offices, and a restaurant, at a complex known as Hunters Ridge at a 35-acre site at 79 Church Hill Road (see Google Map, above), will soon be under review by the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA), which oversees municipal wastewater disposal.

Such a high-density project would require municipal sanitary sewer service for its wastewater disposal because septic systems could not effectively handle the voluminous wastewater flows generated by such a complex.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, said December 19 that WSA members will start their review of developer 79 Church Hill Road, LLC's, request for sewer service when they meet on January 11.

The two basic issues facing the WSA are the applicant's request to expand the boundaries of the central sewer district to include the development site within the district, and the request to allocate sufficient sewage treatment capacity at the Commerce Road treatment plant to cleanse the wastewater that would be generated by the complex.

Mr Hurley said that existing sewer lines could handle the anticipated wastewater flows, but it is not yet clear whether the pumping equipment at the Sandy Hook Center sewage pumping station would be adequate to handle the additional sewage.

Mr Hurley said he is reviewing the various blueprints provided to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) in gathering information for the WSA on wastewater disposal.

In April 2015, the WSA rejected an application from 79 Church Hill Road, LLC, for sewer service for multifamily development at the site. In their dual motions to reject the applicant's requests to expand the sewer district and also to reserve wastewater treatment capacity for the project, WSA members stated that the requests did not conform to the terms of the town's Water Pollution Control Plan.

On January 10, the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the applicant's request for a wetlands/watercourses protection permit. Also, IWC members serve as the town's Aquifer Protection Agency (APA). In that capacity, they will review the applicant's aquifer protection plan and make a recommendation on it to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).

The P&Z is slated to hold public hearings on January 18. One hearing would address a requested change of zone through which the site's zoning designation would be converted from Business Professional Office (BPO) to Incentive Housing-10 (IH-10) zoning. The other hearing would address the developer's requested special permit, based on the project's site development plan.

Such IH-10 projects must have at least 20 percent of their dwellings designated as affordable housing. In the case of Hunters Ridge, that would translate into 45 apartments reserved as affordable housing. The rental prices for the 45 dwellings designated as affordable housing would be much lower than the other 189 dwellings' rental prices, provided that those tenants meet certain income eligibility requirements.

IH-10 zoning allows such complexes to have a commercial component, making for a mixed-use development.

The 35-acre parcel is owned by Carmine Renzulli of Norwalk. The developer would purchase that land if all required development approvals are received. The site is roughly triangular in shape, with a small section of the parcel having frontage on Church Hill Road.

The largely undeveloped 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 I-84 and its Exit 10 interchange ramps.