Editors note: The address for the proposed subdivision has been corrected.

Ledyard — The town's first proposed open-space subdivision is facing criticism from the Ledge Light Health District, which is concerned that the 36 lots are too dense on the property.   

The 36-unit subdivision, located on 423 Colonel Ledyard Highway in front of Haleys Brook, was proposed in November of this year on a 54-acre property formerly owned by Raymond and Myllis Watrous.

Open-space subdivisions take a portion of the land, in this case 60 percent, and leave it undeveloped, while concentrating new lots on another section of the property.

This allows the town to preserve greater amounts of land; however, it also leads to "clustering" of small lots.

Typically, Ledyard's lots are around one acre in size and use private wells because few properties in town have town water, said Planning Director Charles Karno.

In a detailed report read at a Feb. 11 public hearing, the Ledge Light Health District pointed to the density of private wells on the property as potentially causing future issues in water quality.

Written by Senior Sanitarian George Caulkins, the report acknowledged that the 37 proposed lots "either meet, or could meet, the requirements of the Conn. Public Health Code" for wells and septic systems.

However, he was critical of the density of development on the site, raising concerns about well setbacks, drawdown, drainage and collective demand on the groundwater, causing water quality problems in the future.

"The potential for 'pulling in' contaminants discharged to the ground (and ground water) at the fringe of the normal setback distance should be considered possible," he wrote.

Caulkins wrote that in his opinion, the plan should not be accepted with private wells; instead, a communal well system should be constructed, or the open-space area be considered a potential water source in the future.

He noted that if a well failed, there is no location to build a replacement, and the town would have to build or extend public water to the homes.

The touchstone for those wary of private wells, and cited in Caulkins' letter, is the Aljen Heights neighborhood: a development plagued with water problems — including a communal well that failed and nitrogen contamination — that eventually led the town to extend water lines to the neighborhood at a cost of $6.5 million.

However, a water study prepared by Andrew Adinolfi, an ‎environmental engineer at GEI Consultants Inc., argued that the impact of the wells is not expected to be significant.

According to his report, the development is expected to draw down the water table by about 3 feet at the property boundary, using about 40 percent of the recharge.

Maximum drawdowns at peak demand times, or with high pumping or a long period of time, would be around 20 feet. 

Based on this analysis, Adinolfi concluded that the aquifer "appears to have an adequate quantity of water available to support the proposed subdivision," and that the drawdown in nearby wells would not be considered significant.

Peter Gardner, a surveyor at the public hearing there to represent the applicant, said that Caulkins was personally opposed to open-space subdivision.

"The health department review touched on things I've never had to deal with before ... (Caulkins) gets into too many 'what-ifs' in this review that I can't imagine other than to torpedo what we have," Gardner said.

Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission Mike Cherry said the commission had suggested the cluster-type plan after the layout and roads of a previous iteration of the subdivision proved problematic.

The small lots were in part as a function of the market, Cherry said, as his reading of Ledyard's revaluation showed larger homes with larger lots have generally declined in value more steeply than smaller homes.

People buying homes are "looking for a smaller home that doesn't take all their time to maintain, they're not interested in cutting an acre of grass," he said.

A group of about 30 residents sat during the three-hour public hearing last Thursday, as representatives of Ledge Light Health District and applicant Green Falls Associates read from various letters and reports about the property.

Abutters and Ledyard residents have formed a group "Friends of Watrous Farm" to represent the interests of the neighbors, as well as examine potentially preserving the property.

A GoFundMe page created by the group has already raised over $5,000 to hire civil engineer and city planner Joe Wren of Indigo Land Design, who read a letter of his concerns at the public hearing.

The public hearing on Feb. 11 was continued to a future, unscheduled meeting to allow the developer to respond.

n.lynch@theday.com

Twitter: @_nathanlynch