The 80-year-old businessman and philanthropist envisioned wildflowers, fruit trees, sunflowers and grapes growing on the sunny hillside of his 33-acre property on Newtown’s Mount Pleasant Road.
“I wanted to give this soccer facility a European look, and then I started thinking, ‘I got this balance of land, why not do something productive and something beautiful? ’” said Peter D’Amico in an interview on Monday. “I wanted to bring a touch of Tuscany to Newtown.”
By a close 3-to-2 vote Newtown’s Inland Wetlands Commission decided it is within D’Amico’s land-owning rights to do just that — to farm his property without a public hearing to review the crops’ impact on environmentally sensitive Pond Brook.
“What is the intent for the wildflower and the sunflowers and the vineyard?” asked Mark D’Amico, a commission member who is not related to Peter D’Amico.
“The vineyard obviously is going to be used to cultivate grapes,” said Phil Clark, an architect representing Peter D’Amico during a June 10 meeting. “The remaining (crops) I would have to defer to Peter, except it’s just to create something special on the hill. He did mention the invasive species that are all there and that was an issue with him. So this is an opportunity to get rid of all those too.”
“If the wildflowers and sunflowers are just planted for … ornamental purposes, that would not fall under the definition of an agricultural use,” Mark D’Amico said.
“He is going to cultivate them and maybe … sell them for purchase,” Clark said.
The commission’s ruling is the latest development in plans for a two-field soccer complex that was approved in February despite neighborhood opposition.
Peter D’Amico’s wooded property at 90 Mount Pleasant Road is the same location where a plan for 200 apartments was denied in 2023. The site, which was farmland up until the mid-1980s, is next door to a 100-acre property where plans for a trucking warehouse were denied in 2022.
Plans for the soccer complex include 15 acres of crops. A 7-acre vineyard is planned for the northernmost part of the property. A 4-acre strip of wildflowers and sunflowers would be planted on the western side of the property, nearest the wetlands. Four acres of fruit trees would be planted on the northeastern side of the soccer complex with a rose garden planned at the southeastern corner, next to an 800-square-foot pavilion.
“We are asking for a ruling on the western portion of the property where the wetlands are … because we will be encroaching on the setbacks of the wetlands,” Clark told the wetlands commission on June 10. “We have no intention of going into the wetlands. But we are planning on going right up to them.”
“You’re probably going to be using fertilizers and pesticides,” said commission member Craig Ferris. “If you’re going to be disturbing the soil, it’s an opportunity to trap sediment nutrients before they get into the wetlands.”
“It sounds very fair,” said Clark, who is also the founder of Newtown-based Claris Design Build. “How many feet of buffer are you thinking?”
“Well, it depends on the slope, but where it slopes,” Ferris said.
“I think that is completely reasonable,” Clark said. “We will create a buffer.”
Commission members Mark D’Amico and Scott Jackson voted in the 3-to-2 minority to require a public hearing.
The architect said Peter D’Amico’s vision was in everyone’s best interests.
“It’s to plant something that people can enjoy,” Clark said. “Eventually we hope there’ll be soccer fields there, and people can look out at an amazing space and not look at all the invasive species that are there now.”