Fairfield resident says petition to intervene best way to defeat housing law

FAIRFIELD — An affordable housing proposal that will soon be voted on by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission will also include a petition to intervene filed by a resident who brought his own experts to evaluate the plan.

The petition was filed under the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act by a group called the Fairfield Center Alliance. It argued a big storm would overwhelm the proposed stormwater management and drainage systems, potentially causing flooding and affecting water quality.

The TPZ has already signaled it plans to vote against the application to build a 63-unit, multi-family development at 15 Unquowa Road, as well as a corresponding zoning text amendment. The developer, 15 Unquowa Road, LLC, will likely challenge that decision in court.

But the commission will have to evaluate whether the the concerns raised by the petitioners show that the development would create an unreasonable pollution.

Leo Redgate, the resident who filed the petition, said he filed the petition because he saw the proposal as a risk to public safety and the environment. He said he does believe in building more affordable housing in Fairfield, and noted there have been other applications for it that he has not stood against, such as another application further up on Unquowa Road.

“While I believe, personally, that they overbuilt on the site, they weren’t doing anything that I found to be against the public health or interest or public safety, nor was environmentally unsound,” he said. “I’m for affordable housing, unless I believe the affordable housing statute is being abused or manipulated.”

Redgate, a real estate investor from Fairfield who owns a company called Pequot Hill, said he has worked on school building committees and done redevelopment projects at places like the old post office on the Post Road.

When it comes to fighting affordable housing applications, Redgate said he believes filing a petition to intervene can be the best way to push back against them.

Steven Trinkaus, a civil engineer hired by the alliance to review the plans, raised several concerns. He said the ramp into the parking garage was too steep and the entrance and exit are too tight. He also said that, based on what is in the plans, runoff water wouldn’t drain properly in the garage.

Trinkaus, who said he has worked on affordable housing applications in Fairfield and the surrounding area, said the developer’s plan calling for 60 parking spaces for 63 apartments is not adequate, even if there is an assumption that many residents will be using the train. He also brought up issues with the sight lines when exiting the property, as well with the types of soil and groundwater tests done on the property.

The attorney for the developer, and their experts hired to work on the project, have argued the proposal would have limited impact on area traffic and parking, while saying sewers and drainage would be improved by the project.

The project was filed under state statute 8-30g, which allows developers to bypass municipal laws and regulations as long as a certain percentage of the project is affordable housing. Of the 63 units in this development, 19 would be restricted as affordable.

Residents and officials have rallied against the proposal, with a protest an hour before the hearing in which opposition to the building was discussed. There was also a petition to stop the proposal, which has gathered approximately 1,900 signatures since it was created last month.

Concerns of residents, the petitioners and town officials have all focused on the same topics, but whether they are enough to prevent the building from being constructed remains to be seen.

Redgate says the way residents usually fight affordable housing applications is to speak about their concerns during public comment — an approach he does not think adequate. Meanwhile, he said, politicians generally say their hands are tied because it is a state-level issue.

“I don’t think politicians are in a good position to lead on this front,” he said.