nothin New Haven Independent | 30 New Upscale Homes For Gould Lane?

30 New Upscale Homes For Gould Lane?

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Branford’s Inland Wetlands Commission will continue a public hearing Thursday, Aug. 8, for a proposal to build 30 upscale single-family homes on 25 acres of property at 47 Gould Lane.

The project would include 21 lots of single-family homes, and also a cluster of nine single-family homes that would be part of a condominium association. The developers are proposing an open space residential subdivision, and existing wetlands on the property would be preserved as open space.

A public hearing July 11 lasted more than two hours and will be continued to allow the Inland Wetlands Commission time for further questioning and to allow additional time for residents’ concerns. 

A few neighbors spoke up at the hearing to voice concerns about the possibility of storm water runoff onto their properties. The site is bounded by Gould Lane, which leads to Leetes Island Road; Acorn Road, Lomatra Lane, and Beechwood Road.

The owners and developers of the property are Joe Capasso and his son Carmine Capasso, through Addeo LLC. The younger Capasso has a home in Branford. Joe Capasso told the Eagle after the meeting that the homes would be upscale. That’s a very nice area,” he said.

Diana Stricker Photo

Dan Kroeber, of the Milone & MacBroom Inc. engineering firm in Cheshire (pictured), gave an extensive presentation. This development option really is the right option for this site,” he told the commission. The wetlands on the property are 100 percent contained in either the open space or the conservation easement.”

Kroeber described the property as having a fairly significant wetland pocket” on the west side of the site, some steep slopes and forested area, former farmland on the eastern half which is now an open field, and more wetland pockets on the east.

Kroeber said preliminary indications” are that the Branford Land Trust would be interested in the larger wetlands on the western site, and a conservation easement would be placed on wetlands on the far eastern side to prevent development there.

We are proposing no direct wetland activity on the property,” Kroeber said.

He said if the project moves forward, the individual lots would have to come back to Inland Wetlands with final plans.

The project would be subject to approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. An open space residential development is a special exception that allows modification of lot area, shape and setback requirements if the proposal meets specific open space requirements.

Most of the evening was spent in technical discussions of wetlands, storm drainage systems and detention basins.

There is no increase in peak flow rates,” Kroeber told the commission in regard to storm water runoff. We have no increase in volume.”

Commission members John Rusatsky and James Killelea asked questions about maintenance of the detention basins. Kroeber said Dan said the developers would pay an upfront fee to have the town maintain the basins. There’s going to be an escrow fund set up,” he said.

Kroeber also said that Lomatra Lane, which is a dead-end road, would be extended through the site to Gould Lane.

When residents asked about the possibility of water runoff from the development, Kroeber said there will be no increase in water volume and that some residents will have less runoff than now because of the drainage work that would be done.

Diana Stricker Photo

David Lord, a soil scientist, said he has looked at the property several times since 2001. He said the open field was the scene of an excavation activity” some years ago that removed 10 to 12 feet of soil. He said he did extensive borings at the site and he gave the commission a report of soil conditions. He is pictured here with the Inland Wetlands Commission.

One resident, Howard Gilchrist of Lomatra Lane, said he was concerned about storm water that currently flows onto his property that has almost created a stream. My concern is if they go ahead with this development, that I’m going to see additional erosion and additional flow of water,” he said.

Gilchrist asked if there could be an easement so new homeowners could not change anything within about 10 feet of his property line since there is a stone wall and trees there now.

Local environmentalist Bill Horne asked questions about erosion and drainage in regard to the neighboring areas.

Kroeber said plans call for removing those trees, but he said that the drainage work and catch basins will address storm water issues. He said the engineers would meet with the neighbors soon to address their concerns. I think there’s a solution that we could help you,” he told Gilchrist.

Following the meeting, Horne told the Eagle that the open space on the Gould Lane property could add to nearby open space already owned by the Land Trust to help protect a large wetland complex in the area.

This is not the first time the Gould Lane property has been a topic of proposed development.

In 2009, a Rhode Island developer had plans to build 52 workforce” homes on Gould Lane in conjunction with the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. The developer, Stonestreet Corp. of East Providence, R.I., said the homes would be built with union money, by union construction workers, and marketed to working class families at a price of about $350,000.

The developer requested a zoning change that would allow more homes to be built on smaller lots, and hearings were held by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Click here to read that story.

The proposal never materialized, and the property was sold to the Capasso family in 2010.

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