ANSONIA – Members of the planning and zoning commission voted 3-2 Oct. 21 to approve a court settlement that will allow a former nursing home on Ford Street to be converted into apartments.
One commissioner abstained.
The Vote
The vote tally led to confusion among Ansonia officials.
The commissioners thought they needed four votes in order to approve the court settlement. They had three positive votes.
So neighbors who opposed the redevelopment plan walked out of the PZC meeting thinking the settlement was rejected.
The meeting was adjourned with the members of the PZC thinking the same thing.
A Valley Indy reporter was called back into the room a few minutes later, where commission chairman Jared Heon and attorney Barbara Schellenberg, who is representing the commission, said they may have misinterpreted the vote.
An hour after that, Schellenberg wrote in a text message to The Valley Indy that only three votes were needed to pass.
A fourth vote in favor was not necessary, because one commissioner had abstained, Schellenberg said.
The Settlement
Under the terms of the settlement, development company Wellspring Development LLC will be allowed to convert the former Hilltop Health Center nursing home at 126 Ford St. into 76 age-restricted apartments.
The plans include 60 studio apartments and 16 one-bedroom units, according to the terms as read out loud by Heon at the meeting. That’s a decrease from previous proposals, which included 91 studio apartments.
The settlement terms call for 119 parking spaces, the same number previously proposed.
The Breakdown & Reasoning
Commissioners Heon, Scott Tremblay and Williams Phipps voted in favor of the settlement.
Commissioners Dana Haigh and Maureen McCormack voted against it.
Commissioner Kenneth Moffatt abstained.
Commissioner William Malerba was absent.
Heon had said earlier in the meeting it was better to accept a 76-unit proposal than to risk leaving the matter to the courts’ judgment.
“That outweighs the risk of going in front of an appeals process, in front of a judge, to potentially lose it all and end up with 91 studio apartments,” Heon said.
Haigh said in a phone call after the meeting – before learning that the settlement had been approved – that the risk was worth taking.
“I just couldn’t in good conscience vote, for the people of Ansonia and especially the surrounding residents, to put a high-density housing unit right in their neighborhood,” Haigh said.
Background
Wellspring Development LLC, owned by New Haven developer Adam Haston, originally submitted a special exception permit application to convert the 47,187-square foot former Hilltop Health Center nursing home into 91 age-restricted studio apartments last year.
The property, which has been vacant since 2013, is currently owned by THCI Company LLC (formerly known as Meditrust of Connecticut).
Dominick Thomas, an attorney representing the developer, said the proposal could add $130,000 to $180,000 to the city’s tax rolls.
Residents from the neighborhood turned out in large numbers to two public hearings, held in December 2025 and February 2026, to say they opposed the proposal. Neighbors cited concerns including traffic and property value impacts throughout the hilltop neighborhood.
Some of the neighbors who spoke said they were open to the property being redeveloped, but said 91 units was too many for a neighborhood mostly consisting of single-family homes.
The planning and zoning commission rejected Wellspring Development’s application in March, citing concerns from neighbors and concern over the living space of the units.
Wellspring Development and THCI Company appealed the ruling in state Superior Court the same month.
Two previous meetings were also called for commissioners to discuss a proposed settlement on Sept. 23 on Oct. 7. No action was taken at those meetings.
In exchange for the city allowing the proposal to move forward under the new terms, the settlement calls for the developer and landowner to withdraw their appeal in court.