Orange’s Inland Wetlands To Continue Discussion On Controversial Development

By Brandon T. Bisceglia

The Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission is scheduled March 12 to continue its deliberations over the latest iteration of controversial development plans for a tract of privately-owned land off Turkey Hill Road in Orange.

Representatives for owner Richard Meisenheimer appeared Jan. 8 before the commission with a “pre-application” for 10 buildings with 60 bedrooms on the 22-acre plot in a rural residential neighborhood that will likely include an affordable housing component. The commission unanimously agreed at that meeting that the new proposal was a “significant activity” that would require a public hearing.

A previous proposal submitted by Meisenheimer for 30 to 40 townhouses for older adults went down to defeat in 2018 at the hands of the Town Plan & Zoning Commission after a sustained public outcry from neighbors living in the area.

That proposal required a zone change because the density of the proposed development exceeded the limit of one unit per one-and-a-half acres required in the neighborhood.

The affordable housing component of this new plan could skirt the town’s density cap. Under the state’s affordable 8-30g statute, a town that does not have at least 10 percent of its housing stock qualify as affordable must demonstrate that a project is a danger to the health or safety of residents in order to deny it.

Correction: The Milford-Orange Times has learned that the pre-application item was placed on the Inland Wetlands March 12 agenda by mistake and the commission did not discuss it at that meeting. The matter will need to clear the commission in the future if it is to move forward, but there is no information yet on when that will be.