ANSONIA – Members of the planning and zoning commission approved a proposal to  bring 12 age-restricted apartments to the former police station on Elm Street July 27.

The approval comes three years after the city sold the former station at 2 Elm St. to Ansonia-based developer Fredi Lalaj in 2023 for $320,000. Lalaj said it would become a data center at the time, but later returned with apartment proposals after data center plans fell through.

The approved plans include four two-bedroom apartments, six one-bedroom apartments, and two studio units spread across the building’s first and second floors. The basement, which currently includes a computer room rented by internet service provider GoNetSpeed, will also have space for storage.

The commissioners’ approval said the apartments must be age-restricted and market-rate. They also asked for a report on parking and traffic management to be delivered to them within 20 months.

The plans include 19 on-site parking spaces. Two commissioners – Dana Haigh and chairman Jared Heon – abstained from the vote while citing concerns over parking. However, Heon said the state housing reform law passed last year would prevent the commission from denying the application based on those parking concerns.

Lalaj had previously submitted plans for 15 and then 14 apartments which were rejected. He and his lawyer, Milford attorney Thomas Lynch, have appeared in planning and zoning meetings in recent months to discuss aspects of the plan including parking.

At a public hearing over a previous apartment proposal in December, members of the public including two current Aldermen said they were worried about how the apartments would impact traffic and property values in the historic district.

The commissioners’ approval also forbids commercial and non-residential uses in the building. Heon said he would leave it to zoning enforcement and the developer to figure out whether that means the computer room in the basement will need to be shut down.

“My thought is, yeah, they’ve told us that it exists there. If it’s a problem, there’s the enforcement arm of the zoning enforcement officer who can follow whatever they need to do. And if the owner decides at that point, he wants to pull it out of there because he doesn’t want to be out of compliance or whatever, then he can do that,” Heon said.

Lynch, the attorney for Lalaj, said in a prior meeting that GoNetSpeed has rented the room for the last two years to sell internet access within the community.

According to the Derby Historical Society, the property at 2 Elm Street was originally the site of the Larkin School, named after Annie Larkin, who was principal for thirty-five years before her passing in 1933..

In 1980, the police department moved into the building. They moved to their new location on Main Street in 2021, after years of dealing with deteriorating and cramped conditions.

A statement of use included with the application said construction would begin within 30 days of the approval. Construction could take 12 to 15 months.