Sandy Hook mom decries new building

NEWTOWN — A Greenwich developer proposing to build 170 apartments and villas for seniors on land next to an animal sanctuary founded in honor of a slain Sandy Hook girl told a review board twice that her mother was “thrilled” with the proposal next door.

But Jenny Hubbard is not thrilled with the proposal next door.

“It’s an aggressive urban design they have created to utilize every square inch of living space,” said Hubbard, founder of the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, during an interview on Tuesday. “I’m not at all thrilled about the design and the development they’re proposing, and in no way have I been privy to the aggressiveness of what they’ve proposed.”

Hubbard is referring to plans by Teton Capital Co. to buy land from Newtown on Commerce Road and build a residential campus with 152 apartments in four buildings, with 19 villas and a clubhouse, a pool, a dog park and playground.

Sale of the 14 acres, which has been in negotiations for two years, would bring Newtown between $3 million and $4 million, depending on how many apartments are approved.

In additional to approval from Newtown’s Design Advisory Board, which criticized Teton’s renderings as “out of skew” and “too urban” in late February, Teton needs approval from Newtown’s Inland Wetlands and the Planning and Zoning commissions, both of which have yet to review the application.

Design board member Sarah Middeleer said the renderings’ “architectural style doesn’t respond to the agrarian, rural character of the land or the cultural and natural history of the site.”

“[T]hree- and four-story buildings seem out of skew to the site and the surrounding area,” Middeleer said during a Feb. 22 meeting. “The proposal looks too urban.”

Fellow board member George Daniels agreed, saying he was “not a fan of the architectural style because it is too urban.”

“[T]he square style of the buildings lacks projections, depth and character,” said Daniels, referring to a layout of two four-story buildings, two threestory buildings, a barnshaped clubhouse, and 19 villas.

Renderings submitted to the board show no landscaping between the buildings except for lawn islands.

William Donahue, the founder and managing partner of Teton, told the board the clubhouse would have the external appearance of a barn “to evoke the agricultural history of the area.”

“All the buildings except the clubhouse will have flat roofs to accommodate solar panels,” Donahue said during the Feb. 22 meeting. “[T]he project will utilize significant material changes including native fieldstone, bonderized corrugated metal, horizontal composite siding, (and) vertical wood plank board and batten.”

Donahue also told the board that Jenny Hubbard was “thrilled with the potential volunteers and programming opportunities that the active adult housing community will bring.”

Hubbard said on Tuesday that she was not happy with the density nor design of the project but did indeed welcome a community where seniors could age in place.