By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — An application to build six single-family homes on 12 acres of the old Kowalsky farm off Morningside Drive South has been withdrawn. 

At least temporarily.

Ted Gill, a town engineer, told the Flood and Erosion Control Board on Wednesday the applicant, Kowalsky Family Company LLC, would be back. The withdrawal came after the board completed an application review that noted several issues with the plan at 109 Morningside Drive South.

Water table, drainage concerns

The review highlighted concerns about the water table and drainage, among other issues, on the parcel between Morningside Drive South, Clapboard Hill Road and Turkey Hill Road.

The applicant “asked if they could take another month to answer some of the concerns that had arisen in our review,” Gill told the board. “They will be coming back next month.”

Among the issues in the review are the impact by six houses with basements in an area where the water table is a concern — the basements would be below the water table.

Also, the review indicated old drainage pipes on the farm land are tied into the town’s stormwater drainage system and should be disconnected. The review said the town has not been able to find evidence that permission ever was granted to link with the system. The review states that drainage system must be removed.

It also states that since use of the land will change from farming to residential, “by constructing impervious areas and offsetting runoff by discharging water into the groundwater table, and by installing six new septic systems, the proposed activity will impact the groundwater table.”

The document also states that the old groundwater drains feeding into the town’s system “decreases the capacity of those town-owned drains and limits their functionality. By adding to the groundwater table, the proposed subdivision would cause adverse engineering impacts to the downstream town-owned drainage system within the roadway.”

It notes that the applicant contends “the pipes have existed for a long enough time that ‘there is a legal prescriptive right for the drains to remain and function as they have for many decades.’ ”

The report states that argument is beyond the scope of the Flood and Erosion Control Board, and would “need to be determined in a court of law.”

Board Chairman Bill Mazo asked if the applicant would address the concern the board has about plans for the homes’ basements to sit below the water table.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Gill said. “We have a meeting scheduled for next week between the director of conservation, the applicant and the engineer for the applicant to discuss what exactly they are looking to work on.”

The Kowalsky legacy in Westport

The property was owned by one of the three Kowalsky brothers who founded Kowalsky Brothers Construction in the 1940s. 

For decades the company was a go-to contractor for town projects, building parking lots, regrading beaches every year and other work. 

Some locals called the firm “Danger Kowalsky” because of the stenciling on its ubiquitous sawhorse barricades at street jobs all over town.

The company’s last local headquarters was at 1114 Post Road East, now the site of an assisted-living facility.

Kowalsky Construction, as it is now known, is run by descendants and headquartered on Honeyspot Road in Stratford.