East Lyme — After going before the Inland Wetland Agency on Monday seeking what will be the first of many approvals needed from the town, a local builder is moving forward on plans to construct a more than 100-unit affordable housing development on the western edge of town.

Developer Jason Pazzaglia, owner of the custom homebuilding company Pazz & Construction LLC of East Lyme, is proposing to build 108 multifamily units on about 12 of the 20 acres he owns at 90 North Bride Brook Road near Bride Lake. He purchased the property from its estate owner Edward H. Dzwilewski for $450,000 in 2017. 

Pazzaglia told The Day on Tuesday that he hopes construction will begin as soon as spring, assuming the town’s permitting process goes smoothly. The Water and Sewer Commission last September granted him 35,400 gallons of daily sewage capacity for the project.

The units — some of which will be rented at market rate — are proposed in 13 buildings on the property, according to plans submitted to the town. The property abuts the southern side of Interstate 95 and is located about a mile away from the eastern side of the Rocky Neck Connector.

“It’s going to be the place you want to live at,” Pazzaglia said to The Day on Tuesday, explaining that each two-story unit will include its own garage. “It won’t be like an apartment style complex, it will feel more like individual homes.”

Pazzaglia said Tuesday he is seeking to first receive his permit with the Inland Wetland Agency before filing an application with the town's Zoning Commission under the state’s affordable housing statute. He has not yet submitted architectural plans or renderings to the town’s Land Use Department, stating he still is working those out, but did detail that he plans to build the project in phases, constructing two to three buildings at a time annually until the development is complete, he said. The rate of construction, he said, will depend on future housing demands.

At Monday’s public hearing before the Inland Wetland Agency, Pazzaglia’s attorney Harry Heller of Montville presented stormwater runoff mitigation and sedimentation and erosion control plans.

Pazzaglia must receive a permit from the agency to proceed with his project because three of the 13 proposed buildings extend into what’s known as the upland review area, or the 100-foot area surrounding a watercourse — in this case Bride Brook — that the agency regulates.

“Statutorily, construction within the zone is regulated, not prohibited,” Town Planner Gary Goeschel, who is the wetlands enforcement officer, said in an interview Tuesday. “Unless he’s directly impacting a watercourse, would we then say, ‘Show us a feasible and prudent alternative.’ In this particular case, (Pazzaglia) is not required to come up with that alternative because he is not directly impacting the watercourse.”

Goeschel, who has been reviewing the plans with Pazzaglia, explained that though some of the buildings extend as far as 50 feet into the upland review area, they will not impact the watercourse because a ledge separates them from the brook, protecting it. Goeschel also explained that the property slopes eastward, away from the brook, and that stormwater will flow toward Bride Lake and into a catch basin at the eastern edge of the property.

Goeschel said the catch basin will be built large enough to hold enough water for a “100-year storm” or about 6 inches of rain over a consecutive 24-hour period. Regular rainfalls will be filtered through the bed of the basin, while heavier rainfalls will be metered through a pipe controlling the rate of runoff, thereby mitigating potential negative impacts downstream.

“There’s a need for rental units in East Lyme,” Goeschel said, explaining that another affordable housing project proposed behind the Divine Wine Emporium on Route 156, has gone through its permitting and appeals process. “This is a wonderful project because we need the housing, we’re going to need it with what’s happening with Electric Boat. ... This will support that.”

“The downside to this is that (the development) is not in downtown Niantic, it’s on the outskirts of town,” Goeschel said. “While it might be close to the highway, it may not help those local businesses. ... When evaluating affordable housing, that’s something the (Zoning Commission) needs to consider — its location relative to businesses.”

Town officials say two people spoke against the project Monday. The Inland Wetland Agency voted to continue the public hearing at its next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 24, giving residents another opportunity to weigh in.

m.biekert@theday.com