Developer seeks extension on Fawn Meadow project

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Northeastern Development has asked the Planning Commission for a five-year extension on its contract to complete the Fawn Meadow development in the Indian Hills area of Naugatuck. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — Northeastern Development needs more time to complete the Fawn Meadow development in the Indian Hills area of Naugatuck.

Michael Bette, of Northeastern Development, came before the Planning Commission July 2 during a public hearing to ask for a five-year extension to complete the third phase of Fawn Meadow’s development.

The original contract gave Northeastern Development 10 years to complete Fawn Meadow. The contract is set to end this year. Bette explained the development only needed five more years to wrap everything up in phase three of the project. He said that Pear Tree Drive was 90 percent complete, but no work had begun on Warm Earth Road.

“That’s the remaining portion of phase three that needs to be completed,” Bette said. “Essentially 50 percent of phase three is complete.”

Once completed, Fawn Meadow will be a 90 lot housing development. Phase three includes 23 homes.

Attorney James Cummings, of The Cummings Law Firm, explained the only major changes to the plans of phase three are concerning the properties located between Morning Dove Road and Longwood Drive.

The original plan called for the two roads to be connected. However, the roads will remain separate and there will be houses between them. Longwood Drive will be finished off as a cul-de-sac and Morning Dove Road will end at a driveway, Cummings told the commission.

The other change involves two properties, known as lots 96 and 97, which are off of Morning Dove Road, gaining additional land. This land is part of a wetland and cannot be built upon. The land will be given to these two properties with a conservation easement.

“They could not build on this property. There would be no cutting down of trees or disturbing the situation of the land for either lots 97 or 96. …The lot, as it exists today, would be the portion they could build on,” Cummings said.

Town Planner Keith Rosenfeld confirmed the commission had approved the transfer of land via conservation easement for these two properties last year.

Several neighbors of the development voiced concerns with how the project is going to the commission.

Gary and Amy Pomerenk, of 6 Longwood Drive, voiced concern over an increase of water on their property they’ve noticed since the construction of the development.

“I get all their runoff off that hill, and my yard is still just drying out,” Gary Pomerenk said.

Amy Pomerenk said Bill Bette of Northeastern Development had confirmed that the water was a problem and said he would fix it.

“My kids can’t play out there … because there’s ankle deep water,” Amy Pomerenk said. “There’s been water there since we moved in and, in the winter, there’s so much ice. And it’s nothing the people above me are doing.”

Michael Bette said that a lot of the problem comes from the fact that they live at the bottom of a very large hill.

“We have not done any work on the other side of Warm Earth Road. So, whatever your drainage problems were, they probably existed before you bought your house,” Michael Bette said.

Michael Bette explained that there will be a drainage swale and storm water drain that runs along the properties of Warm Earth Road, which might provide some alleviation of the problem when the work is done.

Gary Pomerenk’s other concern was that the road has sunk in spots and is extremely uneven.

Michael Bette explained that there is nothing he can do about that since it is a town road.

Steve Poirier, of 3 Longwood Drive, was also concerned about the amount of water that had been flowing onto his property.

“We’ve been there long enough to actually watch the water flow increase as they do their construction. So you may say it doesn’t affect it, but yes it has,” Poirier said.

Poirier said he didn’t see any kind of water control or water easement for the flow of water down the hill on the current plans for phase three.

“My main concern is, living right here, on the downward slope of everybody else, that as they build stuff, and if they don’t take care of it, I’m going to get freaking drowned,” Poirier said.

Poirier said when he bought the house his yard was dry and now it is soaked. He felt the cause has to lie with the work that is going on up the hill because the weather hasn’t changed.

“If they continue on that path I am going to end up with a flooded lawn the whole year that I can’t even walk on. That’s unacceptable,” Poirier said.

Poirier was also concerned that Northeast Development was laying claim to a piece of property that abutted his property, which he felt was supposed to be part of an easement that ran from Mulberry Street to Prospect.

“When we moved in to our house, we asked who owned the property next to ours. It was not Northeast Development,” Poirier said.

Michael Bette explained that he had no knowledge about that property.

“I’m not sure what happened with an easement with Mulberry Street,” Michael Bette said. “It’s possible you were mislead when you bought your house.”

Rosenfeld said that he was familiar with the property Poirier was talking about.

“I don’t believe there was an easement. We did find, when we first walked the site, there was a kind of no-mans-land between the property that was Fawn Meadow and the properties on Meadow Street,” Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said that the town would look into that property and have an answer for Poirier at the next meeting.

The public hearing was carried over until the Planning Commission’s next meeting on Aug. 6.