Apartment Plan

The Newtown board had rejected a plan for housing to be built near Newtown High School in the last few days of February. A Manhattan developer created a plan to make 136 apartments which would be about 4 acres away from the high school.

It is generally accepted that since it is additional families that raise taxes because of wear and tear on the road, additional kids in school, and heavy financial stunts on local business, it’s a common belief that bringing in dense housing units into a town is a negative thing.

On the other hand, complexes being built attract federal and state funding, economic growth in local businesses, and increasing affordable living options. Apartments also increase tax revenue which funds schools, such as Newtown High School, public services, and infrastructure.

“There are too many complexes in our town and school area, especially in Danbury. Have you been on Stony Hill Road? There are so many different housing buildings on Stony Hill Road which have taken more than 5 years to build,” NHS sophomore Rusa Ellul said. “Where even is the money coming from that is going into these complexes? Could it be used on something better?”

Vessel Technologies, a housing product development company and franchisor which has the goal of offering sustainable and efficient housing solutions, had the apartment plan to build more apartments than Newton's law would allow. There is an exception in Connecticut law saying developers could add extra units to their structures if at least 30% of the homes are increasingly affordable.

According to this plan, a one-bedroom apartment for rent would be about $1,300 for those who made at or below the 60 percent area of median income. Those who make at or above 80 percent of the area’s median income, the rent would be $1,800. The options of these apartments would include one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom apartments.

Josh Levy, executive vice president of Vessel Technologies, spoke about the pricing during a public hearing in November of 2024. “We’re thinking about what people in communities like young firefighters, teachers, entrepreneurs, or municipal employees could afford,” Levy said.

 To fix this problem, Vessel had planned to set aside 41 apartments to be ‘rent restricted for individuals and households earning at or below 60 and 80 percent of the area median income’.

The plan was voted down 3 to 2. “It’s a public health and safety issue,” Barbara Manville, member of the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commision, said. “There was no proof of a water service connection, we found that the application was inconsistent with the state law”. The apartment plan failed to pull together a utilities plan that would state the availability of public water for the housing.

Connecticut’s state affordable housing law “... is being used to penetrate the protection of local planning and zoning mechanisms and ignore long term interests and investments on neighborhoods and the community at a large,” James Walker, president of the Pootatuck Watershed Association, said.

Another reason for this housing plan's rejection was the aesthetics of the complex itself. The apartments were called “ an overstuffed sausage of a project,” by a local conservationist in Newtown. The housing brought up debates on what the new environment on Oakview Road would look like. The conservationist explained how this plan would ruin the ‘quiet environment’ that was already in place.

“Hawley has just got air conditioning, the middle school has minimal necessities, do we really need more complexes?” NHS sophomore Cassie Pickering said. “There's already even the condos in Sandy Hook center that are nice enough. Maybe it’s even possible to add more to those.”

It is not just a matter of speculation how yet another complex would affect the area, but students are worried about how close the proximity is from the school to the housing complex.

“The traffic aspect would be crazy because going in and out of the school building induces so much traffic which already causes a bunch of accidents, especially since there are new and young drivers,” Ellul said. “There will be an increase of traffic with the building so close to the school. The town just completed the project of redoing the roads. Would it have to happen again?”

The most recent ramp project in Newtown took over two and a half years to open, in which case the construction increased traffic and accidents in the center of town by the high school.

“There's always the possibility that students abuse the parking spaces for the apartments, as the schools parking doesnt fully compensate,” Pickering said.

Although the plan ultimately failed, Vessel has no plan to back down from the affordable housing idea.

 “While we are disappointed with the commission’s decision, we are optimistic that a resolution can be found,” Levy said.

As the overload of housing and complex movements get voted on, activists in Newtown have made many statements asking town leaders to impose a moratorium, which is a way to postpone or temporarily stop, on housing and complexes of a larger scale. This idea has already been followed through in some Connecticut towns such as New Canaan, Brookfield, and Trumbull.

            “For a town such as Newtown, an apartment complex such as the one they were proposing and willing to build would change the environment and the atmosphere of Newtown as it is a suburban, homely, folk town,” NHS sophomore Maria Souza said.