Cotswold Property Back in Fourth Attempt at City Approval

Cotswold of Danbury, a cluster development proposed as a 60 unit application but withdrawn on Feb. 10, 2005, and proposed but withdrawn again as 57 units on Nov. 11, 2005, and denied on Sept. 19, 2007, is back for another try.

The new application calls for 44 units on 78 acres near the corner of Padanaram Road and Route 39. The parcel is reached by neighborhood roads off Clapboard Ridge Road, and more than 100 people have already signed petitions in opposition from Padanaram Road, East Wood Road and East Gate Road.

Neighobors oppose the development because it will add traffic to roads that abut Danbury High School north of the school. They fear drainage problems and tree cutting on the site may damage their septic systems, and they fear the development will create worse flooding along Padanaram Brook, which flooded in 2011 and in 2007. Residents in this neighborhood have fought this cluster development proposal for years.

"It's been denied before because the impact is so great," said Ken Gucker, who lives at 89 Padanaram Road. Gucker said he's worried about drainage woes caused by cutting so many trees that now help stabilize the hillside above the Padanaram Brook.

The new proposal will come before the Environmental Impact Commission Wednesday.