Residents air concerns over proposed 80-unit development
FAIRFIELD — Residents continued to push back against a proposed development on Park Avenue this week.
Spot zoning, the size of the development, as well as how the proposed 80-unit development might impact traffic and water drainage, were among the concerns residents shared at the Town Plan and Zoning Commission meeting this week.
Those affiliated with the project though say it meets a need in town and they’ve worked with the residents to address their concerns.
Marshall Weiss, a nearby neighbor, said his property had been impacted by water running down hill and killing trees. He worried the drainage for the proposal would worsen the problem and could create safety issues.
Weiss also took umbrage with the size of the proposal, and said the developer should put something more reasonable on such a small parcel.
“The area is too small for what they want,” he said. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t build anything there, but it should be something that is reasonable — not an 80-unit building.”
According to the development application, the 80-unit apartment complex would be built on the 2.4 acres of 5545 Park Avenue.
The applicant, Primrose Development, claims the apartment would fall in line with the town’s Plan of Conversation and Development, which states a town goal was to create “a complete community,” and that those communities would be “within multifamily buildings and constructed at a minimum density to support transit.”
While the application acknowledged that the town had the Commerce Drive train station area in mind when writing that, it said the goal should also apply to the Merritt Parkway’s on-off ramps.
Primrose Development also presented a zone change application and a zoning change amendment, which also need approval in order to allow for denser housing on the property.
Bethel Rooney, another area resident, said the application falls within the definition of spot zoning, and claimed the proposal is illegal, which other residents echoed.
“I do think the commission needs to pay a lot of attention to this concept of spot zoning,” Roonwy said.
She also took issue with comments made about the traffic study conducted by the applicant and said the roundabout already there, coupled with increased traffic could potentially be a “very dangerous situation” and shouldn’t be allowed.
Mike Galante, who conducted the developer’s traffic study, said there had been five accidents on the roundabout near the parcel from 2017 to 2019. He noted the intersection was built in 2016 and people were still learning how to use it, saying that number “is really not a concern.”
During the same period of time, Galante said, the street near the property has seen one accident. According to the traffic report, the development is estimated to generate 29 to 36 vehicle trips during peak weekday hours.
Marc Anthony Gallucci, who can see the property from his house, said he agreed with what Rooney
and Weiss said about the traffic, adding it gets worse every year.
“Sometimes, when I want to go to Park Avenue, the cars racing down the hill are so fast, so furious, that I actually have to take a right turn, get on the Merritt Parkway and get off of Park Avenue to get to Park Avenue,” he said. “Whenever there are any problems on the Parkway... people use Jefferson Street as a conduit. When that happens it’s almost impossible to get off the street.”
Gallucci said he had concerns about removing a major thoroughfare for animals in the area.
Scott Carew, who lives 200 feet away from the property, said he supports the proposal and the developers have worked with him to address concerns.
“Since we’ve moved in, Ray and Primrose have worked with us to alleviate concerns by adding landscaping, additional trees, the privacy fence, the lighting and reducing the size of the building down to 80,” he said. “I’m hoping that the drainage will actually help an area where we have some downed trees.”
Raymond Rizio, the applicant’s lawyer, said he has been handling the property’s zoning matters for about 10 years, adding the public has been opposed to every proposal for the parcel. He pushed back on several of the comments made during public comment.
“We reduced the size of the project. We went from 99 unit down to 80 units,” he said of the scale of the project, later noting they reduced the size of the original plans by a third.
Notably, Rizio pointed out that the application what not filed under 8-30g. A state regulation, 8-30g allows developers to bypass local zoning regulations in an effort to get affordable housing into communities. This has become a contentious issues in town, with developments facing pushback from neighbors — usually to no avail.
Rizio said the developers have still agreed to make 15 percent of the units in the development qualify as affordable, which helps push Fairfield toward the required percentage of affordable housing — about 10 percent townwide— and, therefore, closer to being outside the purview of the statue.
He said the parcel exists far on the outskirts of a residential zone and so wasn’t spot zoning. He also pointed to the traffic study as evidence that the property is “probably the safest part of town to put this proposal.”
Rizio said the application exceeds the required parking spaces, adding there would be a total of 158 spaces — more than enough for the amount of bedrooms and dens in the proposal. He said that, unlike what some residents said, the apartments are intended for working adults, not college students.
He also argued it would not impact traffic, school enrollment and services — all while bringing in $400,000 in taxes.
“This will be a net gain to the town monetarily,” he said. “It will be a reduction of any possible services in that no sewage will go to the town. The possibility of school-age kids will be minimal. That’s even further reduced when 70 percent of your units are one bedrooms.”