A controversial application to put 10 homes on a 14-acre property off Ansonia’s Castle Lane will be the subject of a public hearing Monday (Nov. 16).
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 253 Main St.
The meeting will be the third public hearing in recent years at which developer Mark Romano has presented plans to develop the land, which he bought five years ago for $250,000.
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Romano proposed developing the land in August 2011, but the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission denied the application after an outcry from neighbors opposed to it.
The developer appealed, but a judge sided with the PZC.
Last January Romano revised his plans in scope and formally submitted a new application for the property in June.
But at a public hearing in August the zoners deemed the application incomplete and rejected it.
After what Romano’s lawyer, Dominick Thomas, called a “productive staff session” with city officials, the developer refined the application and submitted it again Sept. 17.
At the PZC’s Sept. 28 meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to refer the plans for review and to set a public hearing for Nov. 16 at 6 p.m.
They also referred the application to the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments and the Town of Seymour, where Castle Lane begins before crossing to Ansonia.
Seymour’s PZC opposed the project in 2011.
The Valley Indy sent a message to Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller Tuesday asking whether the town had received word of Monday’s hearing.
At the hearing, Romano will present his plans, after which residents will be able to weigh in with comments.
A site walk of the property may also be scheduled, according to the meeting agenda.
