Derby resident David Kopjanski, the city’s former building official, addresses the Planning and Zoning Commission Oct. 3 during a public hearing attended by about 100 people.
A company that wants to convert a former nursing home into a dormitory for foreign high school students has submitted a site plan to the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission.
The commission is scheduled to receive the proposal 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 17).
A public hearing on the application is expected to be scheduled.
Watertown-based APEX International Education Partners (AIEP) wants to house up to 110 students and about 8 overnight staffers at the former Marshall Lane Manor at 101 Marshall Lane in east Derby.
Click here to read the proposal’s “statement of use.”
The Simonetti family of Shelton ran the nursing home from 1973 until its closing in 2015. The family still owns the property.
The students have previously been described as high achievers who will be attending area private schools in an attempt to get into prestigious universities.
Neighbors in the primarily residential zone have already come out in large numbers against the proposal, saying they would rather see the property redeveloped as single-family houses instead of another institutional use.
But the project has already cleared an important hurdle.
Earlier this month the commission, to the dismay of some neighbors, voted to add “educational dormitory residence” as a special exception use within the city’s “R‑3” residential zone.
Dominick Thomas, the lawyer for AIEP, has scheduled an informal meeting at the former Marshal Lane Manor so that company officials can discuss the proposal with neighbors.
That meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 2.
