Sandy Hook Village Housing and Sidewalk Project Could Mean Big Boost for Business

A proposed 74-unit housing complex called The River Walk is planned near the downtown Sandy Hook Village.

The complex will have an extensive sidewalk structure that leads to Sandy Hook’s downtown shops and restaurants.

“The spirit and intent is to have a pedestrian-friendly sidewalk system,” said attorney Peter Scalzo during a recent presentation to the town’s Inlands & Wetlands commission. Scalzo represents local builder/developer Michael Burton.

The 74 units - a mix of townhomes and two-to-three level condo-style complexes - will all be for sale, not rent, and will include an affordable housing component. It would be situated between #10 and #22 on the west side of Washington Avenue.

The River Walk housing complex would likely appeal to the 55 plus community, as well as the 35 and under community, Scalzo explained in a follow-up interview.

”One of our target audiences will be 55 plus - folks who are in four bedroom colonials now, but don’t want to move out of the area,” Scalzo said. “We’re losing a lot of our (older) population to down South because we don’t have affordable housing in our area. So we’re trying to create this kind of housing to keep these people here.”

Scalzo added that “over 55 housing right now is hot,” and that Brookfield’s four corners is also attempting to create a similar pedestrian-friendly setup with a combination of retail and dense residential housing.

The “sub 35” market, as Scalzo calls it, would also likely find interest in The River Walk complex.

“Our kids who are graduating from college and have new jobs can’t live here (Newtown) because it’s too expensive,” Scalzo said, explaining that some of the proposed units would be income dependent. “So if you make too much money, you can’t purchase one of these units.”

Twenty-percent of the units need to be set aside at a certain low price point as outlined in the Incentive Housing-10 zoning regulations approved recently by the town’s Planning & Zoning commission.

The 74 units would be split into seven parcels situated on 11.8 acres near the Pootatuck River. A similar 2008 proposal by Burton to build 24 units on five parcels in the same area was pulled off the table after gaining local government approval due to the economic downturn at the time.

The River Walk project, which still needs to go through Inlands & Wetlands, Water & Sewer Authority, and the Aquifer Protection Agency, also has yet to go before the Planning & Zoning Commission for approval. The Inlands & Wetlands Commission will hold another public hearing on the project on May 13.

This project could be extremely important for the success of Sandy Hook Village businesses who are suffering from a lack of foot traffic, said Wesley Thompson, representing the town’s Economic Development Commission, during public comments at the recent Inlands & Wetlands meeting.

“It (project) would increase density and would be a benefit to businesses,” Thompson said. “I’m not worried at all about Mike (Burton’s) project. He has done a lot for Sandy Hook and his past projects have improved the dynamics of the area.”

Photo Caption:

Landscape architect, Robert Sherwood, presents the landscaping plan of a 74-unit Sandy Hook housing complex to the Inlands & Wetlands Commission.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Carnes

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