Affordable housing plan faces rejection

BETHEL - A proposed 23-unit affordable housing development between Bethpage and Knollwood drives will likely be denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Though rejection is not a definite when the Commission next meets about the "Bethpage West" proposal Wednesday, the possibility is strong. That's because the Commission at a special meeting on the development Tuesday, asked the town's land use office to draft a resolution of denial. But in another move on the project Tuesday, the Commission said it recognized the need for affordable housing and approved a modified version of a zoning regulation amendment proposed by

Oven Rock Partners

, the developer of Bethpage West. Oven Rock asked the town to add an affordable housing amendment to its zoning rules by creating a new "mixed income housing district," an MIHD which would allow up to 23 residential units on sites of less than eight acres if affordable housing is part of the mix. The Bethpage West site - just off of Reservoir Street in the western part of Bethel - is 7.6 acres. The developers wanted the zone change at the site - which is now zoned for single-family houses on quarter-acre lots - even though that is not required under the state's affordable housing law. At the time the MIHD proposal was first made in July of last year, attorney Timothy Hollister who represents Oven Rock said the zone change was "the preferred way to go. We think it's cleaner, simpler than something that does not conform to the zoning." Instead of accepting the MIHD amendment as proposed, the Planning and Zoning Commission modified the proposal by creating a new Designed Conservation District, or DCD. Under the new DCD regulation, denser development could potentially be allowed in areas of Bethel zoned for single- or two-family houses on quarter-acre lots if affordable housing were involved. But the density wouldn't be as great as Oven Rock wanted in its MIHD proposal. As an example, on a 7-acre site where there are two buildable acres - the rest being steep slopes or wetlands - 14 residency units would be allowed under the new DCD zone. In that same scenario, Oven Rock's MIHD zone would have allowed for at least 23 units. A DCD zone, said land use official Steve Palmer

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, would only be allowed on sites that are five acres or more and that are serviced by town water and sewers. At least 35 percent of the site also would have to be designated as open space and no more than half of that open space could be wetlands or steep slopes. "We can't comment yet," said Ryan McKain , an attorney for Oven Rock about the Planning and Zoning Commission's ruling on the MIHD amendment. "It would be premature until a final decision is made" on the Bethpage West plan. Under the proposed development, 23 townhouses would be grouped into four separate buildings with garages. Units would have two or three bedrooms and seven of them would qualify as affordable housing. The proposed plan drew criticism from nearby neighbors who said the development could cause flooding and increased traffic on Reservoir Road. In late November of last year, the town's Inland Wetlands Commission approved six townhouses on the site but denied the other 17 units. Oven Rock in late December filed a lawsuit against the Commission over the ruling in Danbury Superior Court. Last month the Inland Wetlands Commission was ordered by the courts to reverse a denial it made in 2003 against another affordable housing project proposed on a 22-acre Reservoir Street site by Toll Brothers. The town may appeal that order.

Contact Marietta Homayonpour

at mhomayonpour@newstimes.com

or at (203) 731-3336.