ANSONIA – Residents near the site of a proposed 91-unit, age-restricted housing development on Ford Street said they’re worried the developer won’t live up to his promises.
During a two-hour public hearing held at Ansonia High School Dec. 8 and attended by about sixty people, 11 speakers rose to say they’re worried about the impact the development could have on traffic and property values.
The proposal, from New Haven developer Adam Haston, seeks a special exception to convert the 47,187-square foot former Hilltop Health Center nursing home at 126 Ford St. into 91 age-restricted, studio apartments. There will be 115 parking spaces, according to plans.
The building has been vacant since 2013, when the nursing home closed.
Members of the planning & zoning commission voted to continue the public hearing to Dec. 29.
Stan Kapinos, who lives next to the property, said he remembered the nursing home moving in back in 1993. He said the developer then promised a state-of-the art facility, but that it deteriorated over the years. He said he’s worried the new developer could be making similar promises.
“Right now, I live next to a slum with someone who really doesn’t care about Ansonia, the hilltop, my neighborhood, or being my neighbor. And I’m not certain if someone coming in and promising that it’s gonna be different, isn’t gonna be the same type of situation,” Kapinos said.
Kevin Millea, another neighbor on Krueger Court, struck a similar point. He said he wants reassurance that any development would be restricted to residents 55 and older. He also asked that nearby trees be left alone to maintain a buffer between properties.
Evelyn Kish lives nearby on Chester Street. She said traffic on the hilltop is already a nightmare, with Mead Elementary School just down the road.
“Between eight and quarter-to-nine, buses, buses, buses, cars, cars. And people, they fly right through those stop signs. They don’t stop,” Kish said.
A traffic engineer for the applicant said the development would have a minimal impact on neighborhood traffic, based on a traffic study conducted earlier this year.
However, Kish said that presentation doesn’t line up with her experience living in the area.
“There is going to be traffic. I don’t care what they say, there is going to be more traffic,” Kish said.
Sarah Sharkey, who lives on Benz Street, said the traffic study was “complete baloney.” She said she bought her home because the hilltop is a single-family neighborhood, and asked that the proposal be rejected outright.
“Bottom line is, the hilltop isn’t built for apartments, and I would really like the board to consider not allowing the special exception,” Sharkey said.
Sharkey said Ansonia already has its fair share of housing, compared to cities throughout the rest of Connecticut, and that it doesn’t need more high-density developments. The city has encouraged apartments in its downtown, close to the Ansonia train station.
Multiple speakers said they’d be happy to see something done with the long-abandoned property. However, they said 91 apartments was simply too many.
“The density is egregious. Just because the previous building had 90 or 91 rooms for nursing or rehabilitation, doesn’t mean that it has to be 90 or 91 units of apartments,” said Conrad Brejwo, who lives on Clifford Drive.
Brejwo suggested halving the number of apartments and making the units larger.
John Lawlor, whose home neighbors the property, said something needs to be done with it. However, like Brejwo, he said 91 was too high a number.
“Adding 91 more vehicles to that area is just going to be insane from a traffic standpoint. So I would consider, if you’re inclined to approve this, just take into consideration the density,” Lawlor said.
After the hearing, attorney Dominick Thomas responded to the public comments on behalf of the applicant.
Thomas said reducing the density was unlikely. He said Haston, his client, hasn’t yet bought the property, and that he could walk away from the deal if the density is reduced.
“It is not inexpensive to do this. If you reduce the density, that could be a condition in which my client, he hasn’t bought it. He can walk away. He can say ‘I’m sorry, the numbers don’t work,’” Thomas said.
He pointed to a similar development from Haston which converted a Meriden hotel into 165 studio apartments in 2021. He said that development showed there’s a demand for these types of residential facilities, and that the impact on the surrounding community is minimal.
Thomas said, if the development is approved, the developer may come back with a proposal for a second phase of development. That proposal, which has not been submitted, could add an additional 20 or so one- and two-bedroom apartments to the property.
Haston was not present at the hearing, but he submitted a video presentation which was shown. In the presentation, he pointed to amenities at the proposed facility, which would include washers, dryers, and a full kitchen for each unit, common spaces for socialization on each of the three floors, and an outdoor bocce court and swimming pool.
Haston said his proposal will have less impact on the community than other uses for the same site would have.
“This property has been a burden on the community for over a decade. We’re offering a solution that transforms it into a productive, tax-generating asset,” Haston said.