Neighbors Tuesday repeated their concerns about a proposal to bring 22 units of 55-and-over housing to Ansonia.
But at a third public hearing on the topic, Planning and Zoning Commissioners laid out the grim reality: It’s this, or two-family housing.
“If this gets denied, it’s a two-family zone,” said Planning and Zoning Commission chairman Bart Flaherty. “The significant difference is we have a lot less control.”
The Planning and Zoning Commission has more control over the 55-and-over application because it’s a special overlay zone that has specific requirements.
The regular B‑zone, which allows two-family homes on 7,500 square feet, doesn’t have any special requirements for approval.
Developer Ray Sadlik of TWC Development LLC said he is going the harder route – — looking for a special approval for the city’s first 55-and-over housing — because he believes there is a real need for it.
“You have a lot of die-hards in the Valley who don’t want to sell their homes,” Sadlik said after the hearing Tuesday.
He believes if there was a way for senior citizens to downsize and stay in the Valley, they would do it.
Flaherty said that the 55-and-over proposal would fill a need in town. It would also be a less intense use of the land because fewer people could live on the property than if two-family homes were built.
Concerns
Neighbors are concerned that the proposal would bring the wrong type of housing into an old neighborhood. The proposal calls for two- and three-unit buildings and a club house.
Neighbors have also expressed repeated concerns about blasting that would have to occur to get the property ready for building.
The land has large boulders and an old quarry. Sadlik has proposed blasting through the rock, crushing some of it on site, and filling in parts of the quarry with the fill.
His engineer, Holt McChord, said Tuesday the process would likely take four to six months. They have agreed to complete any necessary blasting upfront, to avoid prolonged work.
“We want to take the hillside down and fill in the quarry area,” McChord said. “That needs to happen before anything else happens. It would need to be done all at once.”
Flaherty also asked Sadlik to go on the record by the next public hearing date saying whether he intends to have pre-blasting surveys done on neighboring homes.
Photo: Jodie Mozdzer This is what the outside of the three-unit building could look like.
Traffic Study
On Tuesday, McChord presented the commission with results of a traffic study and preliminary drawings of the buildings.
The traffic study anticipates only about nine extra cars at the intersection of Hull and Wakelee during the rush hours, McChord said.
The study showed that the wait times at area intersections will not increase as a result of the development, McChord said.
The public hearing was continued until 7 p.m. March 22. Commissioners did not take any action on the proposal.
(Read about the first public hearing here, and the second public hearing here.)
