NEWTOWN — A local builder who is two-thirds of the way through the approval process for a 12-home senior living community wants to develop a single-family home property he owns next door with two more houses.

“The property at 9 Beechwood Drive is a four-and-a-half-acre parcel (with) an existing house that is … under construction and should be done in about 30 days,” said Sandy Hook builder Greg Carnick during a public hearing. “This (request) is for one additional house to be created to the left of that white house and one house at the bottom of the hill.”

The problem with that plan, several neighbors said, is that the low-lying property collects a lot of water.

“That property back there is super wet,” resident Marylou Vayan told Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission during a July 16 hearing. “Anybody that buys a house in that area is going to be underwater after the first rainstorm.”

Fellow neighborhood resident Robert Kraus agreed, saying he was concerned about erosion on his property.

“I’m sure others are as well,” Kraus said at the hearing. “That is a very strong concern of mine and others in the area.”

The developer responded that his property collects so much water because it’s the low point for the neighborhood.

“The (site) drainage is essentially catching the neighborhood’s water,” Carnick said. “It is essentially the town’s water — it is not water created by the subdivision.”

Carnick added that the development site was wet because of a July 4 thunderstorm that dumped 6 inches of rain in the area.

“There’s two detention ponds (at the development site) and that’s what they’re designed to do — retain the water. Not a single drop of water from the entire site left … the subdivision,” Carnick said. “I think we had a pretty good test. It was a lot of rain.”

Carnick’s application to build two more homes, which could be voted on at the Planning and Zoning Commission’s Aug. 6 meeting, is in addition to his plans to build two- and three-bedroom homes for seniors on a 5-acre property next door.

That plan for 12 senior homes, which has received a zone change approval and a green light from the wetlands commission, is yet to be submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission for review.

On Tuesday, Carnick said he planned to apply for the final stage of review within 60 days.

July 29, 2026