Developer · Newington, Connecticut
Forty townhouses on a hill in Newington.
Forty rental townhouses on a steep, almost six-acre slope in Newington, Connecticut, with a wetlands permit in April 2025, zoning approval in October 2025, and a gravity sewer serving every unit.
ZUVIC Inc., a Rocky Hill, Connecticut engineering firm, redesigned the Willowhaven Townhouses plan around a groundwater-fed wetland, carried it through two public hearings, and designed a gravity sewer across a neighboring parcel with no pump stations.
- Client
- Patrick Snow, developer
- Location
- Newington, Connecticut
- Work
- Site layout, wetlands and zoning permitting, sewer design
- Outcome
- 40 townhouses approved; wetlands April 2025, zoning October 2025
In March 2023, Patrick Snow asked ZUVIC to look at almost six acres off the Berlin Turnpike in Newington. The land sat in a business zone that does not allow housing. It sloped steeply toward the neighbors, and a small wetland at the low end was fed by groundwater coming out of the hillside. Pat wanted rental townhouses, including affordable units, under Connecticut's 8-30g affordable housing statute.
Wetlands
ZUVIC started with concept options, including a commercial and daycare layout, before the plan settled on housing. The wetlands review then ran for eight months. The units at the bottom of the site sat in the groundwater's path, and the commission and the Town's reviewer wanted that addressed. ZUVIC redesigned the plan instead of defending the first one. The layout went from 44 units to 40, a loop road became two hammerhead turnarounds, paved area dropped by about 20 percent, and disturbance in the wetland review area dropped by 30 percent. In December 2024 ZUVIC met the Town's reviewer, the soil scientist and the Town Engineer on site to agree where the wetland's high-water line actually was. The wetlands permit was issued in April 2025.
Zoning
Zoning raised new questions. Town staff asked whether aerial mapping was accurate enough for the site's grades, and the team documented its survey method in detail. The Fire Chief needed to know his trucks could turn around. ZUVIC proposed mountable curbs at the hammerheads and reinforced aprons where sidewalks cross the drives, and the Chief supported the plan. After two public hearings, the Town Plan and Zoning Commission approved Willowhaven Townhouses in October 2025.
The sewer
The sewer took the longest. The Metropolitan District, the regional water and sewer utility, required the new line to connect to the main in the Berlin Turnpike. The obvious route down Kitts Lane did not have the grade to make that work, and Pat did not want pump stations on the property. He negotiated a route across a neighboring commercial parcel. ZUVIC surveyed that parcel, laid out the alternatives, and redesigned the line when the utility required all-new pipe instead of reusing an existing one. Pat confirmed the final route in April 2026, and the utility issued its availability and capacity determination that August. The design serves every unit by gravity, with no pump stations. Site clearing was finished in August 2026, and by September ZUVIC had released the construction plans and set control points for the site contractor. Site work began in late summer 2026.
While Kitts Lane was still in permitting, Pat brought ZUVIC a second Newington site: 41 units on Louis Street. That one had different problems, pedestrian safety on a busy street and emergency access. ZUVIC designed an emergency access lane and a new crosswalk to the Louis Street sidewalk, and the Town approved the plan in February 2026. Over three and a half years, Pat has hired ZUVIC for six projects in four Connecticut towns.
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