Highland Ridge/St. Anne’s Golf Cours
There has been some action on Aurora Rosa’s first development of 519 acres, 456 age-restricted housing units and an 18-hole golf course east of Highland Lake. As you recall, this first Aurora Rosa development was approved by the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission (IWWC) on July 15, 2006 and the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) on August 24, 2006.

The IWWC had previously approved the developer’s request to harvest trees on his property, and on October 11, 2007, the P&Z also approved the developer’s request. At this meeting, Attorney Perley Grimes, who represents the developer Mr. Silano, explained the harvesting of the trees will be completed in three phases and is scheduled to be completed by April 2008. The plan is to cut down 9,000 trees on the property. As the folks along East Wakefield will attest, the harvesting is under way.

At this same meeting, Mr. Grimes explained the project still needs the approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Another issue has risen with the developer’s request to install the water and sewer lines connecting the Town’s resources to the site of the Aurora Estates developments along Route 800. Apparently, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has denied that request, citing the Town’s lack of an updated Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). State laws require the plan for each municipality be updated every ten years. Winchester’s last POCD was published in 1994.

The P&Z had been working on a revision; however, the developer offered to have his attorney, Mr. Grimes, write a revision he believed would suffice as a revised plan, and that would satisfy the DEP’s requirements and allow the construction of the water and sewer lines.

The Winchester Plan of Conservation and Development is a very important document and must not be taken lightly. If it is decided a quick fix is in the best interest of the Town at this moment, Town officials and the boards and commissions must still continue to work on revising the current 1994 edition of the plan and not consider this version supplied by the developer as the working POCD for the next ten years. Mark Schrader has more on this subject on page 5 of this edition of the newsletter.

A very confusing statement by the developer, Mr. Silano, occurred on at the selectmen’s meeting of Monday, November 5, the evening before the Winchester elections. A number of us heard Mr. Silano state during the Public Comment section of the meeting “. . . The big one (Highland Ridge/St. Anne’s Golf Course) we may have to give up - we are not sure yet.”

Aurora Estates (formerly Winchester Estates)
The original proposal for the second Aurora Rosa project, Winchester Estates, contained 120 age-restricted apartments and 267 condominiums, 60 designated as affordable.

On April 26, the IWWC approved the application for Winchester Estates. The P&Z met on May 21 and denied the application as submitted. They cited concerns for the density of the homes, the negative impact on adjacent property values, the lack of recreation areas and the lack of open space.

In December, the developer delivered a new application and renamed it Aurora Estates. The new application was submitted to both the IWWC and P&Z. The development contains 123 age-restricted dwellings and 177 unrestricted units. Both commissions will begin to discuss these new plans during their January meetings.