Opposition Grows Against Proposed Tunxis Hill Complex In Fairfield

FAIRFIELD, CT — A community meeting has been scheduled for Sunday afternoon at the Fairfield Woods Library, as opposition grows against a proposed 46-unit affordable housing complex on two parcels at 467 Tunxis Hill Road and 80 Soundview Ave. in Fairfield.

The development is proposed by local resident Jeffrey Vangele, a former banker Westfair Business Journal reports, who is looking to tear down two homes he owns on the properties to build the three-story apartment complex. Vangele is the principal of the proposal's applicant, Tunxis Hill Road LLC.

Under the proposal, which is under the state's 8-30g affordable housing policy, the complex would hold 39 one-bedroom apartments and seven two-bedroom units. Two levels of parking, with a total of 55 spaces, will be under the 74,000-square-foot building.

Last week, during a public hearing on the proposal held by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission, more than two-dozen neighborhood residents turned out in opposition to the proposal, citing added congestion to the area, environmental concerns, among other factors.

A recording of the public hearing can be viewed here.

"I'm very, very upset over this," said Ana Maria Goss, who has lived in the neighborhood at 477 Tunxis Hill Road for more than 50 years. "This thing is coming, and I don't know where I'm going to stay now."

Soundview Avenue resident Hannah Gale said the development will have difficulty avoiding drainage issues, which she said were exacerbated by the construction of the nearby Stop and Shop.

"The end of Soundview used to end in a ravine," she said, adding that she believes the development will adversely impact the neighborhood. "The field that he's going to be building on, I used to walk my dog by it all the time, and it was constantly filled with water."

Sunday's meeting is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the library's Caroline Platt Walsh Community Room.