NAUGATUCK — An Essex-based developer who grew up in Naugatuck wants to build 11 new houses in his hometown.
Jorge Carreira has proposed building Colonial-style homes in a subdivision called Anderson Mills on 12 acres on Field Street, close to its intersection with Mill Street, according to an application on file at the Naugatuck land use office.
“I grew up in town and want to give something back,” Carreira said, adding that he has been in the construction business for about 15 years.
The homes he plans to build would be on both 8,000-square-foot lots and 15,000-square-foot lots. Carreira said they would be “traditional Colonials” and said the timing in which they would be built depends on the market.
Carreira, who owns the property, originally applied before land use boards in 2008 and asked the Planning Commission for a special permit for two interior lots on the property. That was granted. He also received approval from the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency in 2008 for the subdivision. Now, he is going through the full process for the subdivision, which includes going back before the Planning Commission. The commission will schedule a hearing on the project for next month.
The Planning Commission briefly discussed the project last month and said the proposal has approvals not only from wetlands but also from the Water Pollution Control Authority, the Fire Commission and the Board of Police Commissioners.
Carreira would not say what local development projects he has completed, so little could be confirmed about his previous work.
Naugatuck’s housing market has taken a downturn following the market crash during the recession of 2008. In the immediate years prior, Naugatuck experienced a housing boom and was approving more than 100 homes a year, while giving permits for nearly all of them.
In 2004 and 2005, Naugatuck gave building permits to 99 homes in each year. The following year, it gave 78. By comparison, it gave only 12 permits in 2013 and 21 in 2012. As of the beginning of June, the most recent statistics available, the borough had given out just six housing permits for the year.
