BY ANDREAS YILMA
CITIZENS NEWS
NAUGATUCK – A subdivision for the ultimate development of several single-family homes on Mulberry Street is moving head in the process with a public hearing.
The Zoning Commission accepted at its regular April 17 meeting a special permit application from the applicant, RZ Enterprises LLC for the proposal of two interior lots at 0 Mulberry St. The commission set a public hearing for Tuesday, May 14 at 6:10 p.m.
The commission in February approved a zone change for about 20 acres at 0 Mulberry St. across from Cadbury Place and Simsberry Road.
The zone change went from an R-65 zone – which calls for a minimum of 65,000 square feet per lot – to an R-15 zone, which calls for the minimum lot size to be 15,000 square feet. Each lot has certain setbacks where the bigger the lot, the bigger the setback. The majority of the surrounding neighborhood is zoned as R-15.
Before the commission previously approved of the zone change, about a dozen residents who live in the immediate area spoke out in strong opposition of the development rather than the zone change itself. Some of their reasons included how narrow Mulberry Street is, drilling impacting nearby well water and water runoff.
Attorney Kevin McSherry, who represents the applicant, said one of the two rear lots is 29,000 sq. ft. and the other one is 747,970 sq. ft. but the second one is just the rest of the subdivision. The plan also includes access ways with one being 30 ft. wide and the other being 50 ft. wide.
“The subdivision itself, we’re starting out five lots on the road and two rear lots,” McSherry said. “There’ll be sidewalks along Mulberry Street on that side of the street.”
McSherry said the proposal also includes turnarounds on both of the interior lots for the fire marshal’s request.
The developer will also look to try to expand the road after many residents were concerned with the width of the road.
“There’s some (land) going to sidewalk and there’s some going to road so there’s going to be some sort of expansion,” McSherry said.
Zoning Enforcement Officer Ed Carter said that can be done through the Planning Commission.
“The bigger problem is across the street from the subdivision, I’m told and the street line actually takes into people’s yards. So we’re going to do the best we can with that and move it back,” McSherry said. “The houses we’re trying to set back further off the road, help the sightline and things like that.”
McSherry said in the subdivision process, they will look at all that and get more details while the Planning Commission will look at it more thoroughly.
“We’ll take a little bit of that curve out of that road and see if it helps,” McSherry said.
