MILFORD, Conn. — Milford residents are voicing their concerns about a proposal to allow new townhouses be built in their neighborhood.
Those who live on North Street and Kozlowski Road, an area near the Orchard Gold Course and Woodruff Family YMCA, said they disagreed with the plan put forward by the Connecticut Affordable Housing Act. On Wednesday, they met with the city's Inland Wetlands Agency to state their concerns.
Their petition, calling for a stop to the project, has over 500 signatures as of Dec. 18.
Residents said they are not against affordable housing but instead are concerned that the housing development could harm the environment, have detrimental effects on their community, and jeopardize the overall quality of life.
Another major concern is the lack of planning for managing snow.
During Wednesday's public hearing, Ronald Wassmer, a professional engineer on the project, explained the snow management plan. He stated they looked at 12-inch deep snow and learned the area could handle that much but that some of it may need to be removed off-site.
Wassmer explained that there were two areas where the snow could go, towards the west of the golf course clubhouse, sitting across from the proposed housing location.
"That's a paver area, and we have a catch basin in that paver area that's a water quality chamber," Wassmer said. "And that catch basin connects to an underground galley system of 24-inch deep gallons."
Wassmer said snow melts from the piles is directed towards hydrodynamic separators, a device that takes pollutants from stormwater runoff to help control water pollution.
The petition mentions people are also worried having the townhouses would increase storm water runoff in an area already prone to flooding.
Resident Jim Monde attended the meeting and said he has lived in the area for 26 years and has used Kozlowski Road many times. He stated that there’s an immense amount of water during heavy rain.
“So again, just very concerned that there's such high density going in here that again," Monde said. "There's going to be that much worse runoff, so to speak, is a significant amount of water that pools in that area."
Wassmer tried to ease those concerns, too.
“I have designed the storm drainage system to slightly reduce the peak runoff from the project to the municipal system in Kozlowski Drive,” Wassmer explained.
Bill Kenny, a professional wetlands and soil scientist, said crews had already reviewed the property to see if it had any wetlands. Kenny stated they visited the property in November 2023 and did studies and evaluated the soils since wetlands are defined by soil type.
"We did do shallow test pits using hand tools, shovels, and hand augers. We took soil samples and observed them, and we determined there were no inland wetlands on the property itself and no water courses on the property," Kenny explained.
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Cayla Cade is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at ccade@fox61.com Follow her on X and Instagram.
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