Public will be heard
SHELTON — Residents will get another chance Tuesday to voice their views on a developer’s plan to build 20 single family homes on about four acres of land behind the Huntington Congregational Church off Ripton Road.
The public hearing on the proposal will resume at 7 p.m. during a meeting of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission at the Shelton Intermediate School’s auditorium, 675 Constitution Blvd. north.
Many of the more than 500 residents who turned out for the June 27 meeting were unable to address the commission because of time constraints. The commission has the auditorium for three hours Tuesday.
On June 27, all of the residents who spoke, which included four aldermen, opposed the project
Critics have demanded that the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission reject any proposal that would change the one house per acre zoning in much of Huntington, including a portion of the six acre parcel being discussed.
“Its about time we listened to the people of Shelton,” said David Gidwani, said a freshman first ward alderman who joined colleagues Anthony Simonetti, Noreen McGorty and Jimmy Capra in urging the Commission to reject the proposal last month. “Let’s not listen to builders.”
Huntington Congregational Church owns the property on which the development is proposed.
During the earlier session, Commission Chairwoman Virginia Harger repeatedly asked the crowd to refrain from shouting comments while the project’s creators described the plan. John Guedes and his Primrose Development of Bridgeport, who are behind the proposal, has re-purposed several factory buildings downtown into apartments and some retail.
Guedes’ Huntington Village proposal calls for 20 two-story, three-bedroom Colonials with about 2,000 square feet of living space hooked up to city sewers and city water built behind the church. Seventeen homes would have a two-car garage. All would be built on two cul-de-sacs with a privately maintained entry road and surrounded by a full sidewalk. Of the 6.1 acres used, approximately 1.4 acres would be set aside as open space.
Dominick Thomas, a local land use lawyer, called it a moderate sized development when compared with previous proposals including a 140-bed assisted living and convalescent home. He said the 20-homes fit Huntington Center’s village design.
“Twenty houses on four acres is not a moderate size development,” said Scott Gura, a Centerview Drive resident, Shelton Intermediate School history teacher and Shelton High School baseball coach on June 27.
Much of the June turnout was attributed to the efforts of Harry and Eva Foothorap, who live on Centerview Drive near the development’s entrance.
During the earlier meeting, Eva Foothorap handed the Commission a petition signed by 492 residents opposing the plan.