Jasmine Wright
Shaw Growth Ventures withdrew an application to turn 501 E. Main St. -- the former Farrel Processing Laboratory -- into apartments. They are expected to submit a new application.
ANSONIA – A developer withdrew an application for 127 apartments on E. Main Street Jan. 27, and the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission talked about how to regulate smoke shops.
Bella Vista Apartments Application Withdrawn, Will Be Resubmitted
The site plan for the third phase of the Bella Vista apartments on 501 E. Main St. was withdrawn, due to outstanding concerns from the fire marshal, WPCA, and chief of police, planning & zoning chairman Jared Heon said.
The first two phases of Shaw Growth Ventures’ Bella Vista apartments were completed in July 2022 and September 2023. The first phase converted the long-vacant Palmer building at 153 Main St. into a four-story apartment building with 44 market-rate apartments. The second phase converted the formerly vacant Ansonia Technology Park, or ATP building, at 497 E. Main St. and 165 Main St. (the former Wells Fargo Bank drive-up) into 48 market-rate apartments.
The New York-based developer’s third phase seeks to turn the former Farrel Corp. Processing Lab into a mixture of market-rate apartments and retail/commercial space. The plan includes 127 apartments and 15,000 square feet for commercial uses, with 156 parking spaces across E. Main Street and in a municipal parking lot on W. Main Street.
New York developer Shaw Growth Ventures LLC had initially submitted a site plan application for the board’s October meeting. That application was accepted and sent to city officials for review.
Those reviews noted a number of problems, however.
The city review said that the site plan uses outdated maps of the surrounding area; that it doesn’t show any connection to the sanitary sewer main; and that it fails to reference Connecticut’s fire safety & prevention codes.
Parking was another issue, according to comments left by Ansonia Police Chief Williams. He said the plan vastly underestimates the number of parking spaces needed. The plan only says it needs 112 spaces, he wrote, while in reality the plan is required to have two parking spaces per residential unit – or 254 total spaces in this case, before factoring in additional commercial uses.
Williams also wrote that the site plan relies too much on nearby public parking lots and that those lots could be overwhelmed if the plan were approved.
City planner David Elder said that the developer had been in touch with his office.
“I expect them to be resubmitting in the near future, and as part of the withdrawal, I got a separate email asking to set up a time to meet with me today, which is good, because that’s one of the things we have been suggesting for the last little while,” Elder said to the commission.
No one from Shaw was present at the meeting.
An attorney for Shaw told the commission in October that if a site plan is approved, construction will take about 12 to 15 months to complete.
Chairman Worries Smoke Shop Regs Could Run Convenience Stores Out Of Town
Planning & zoning members continued to talk about how to regulate smoke/vape shops in the future.
Ansonia is currently under a six-month moratorium on any such shops opening. That moratorium is scheduled to expire at the end of March. Commissioners are trying to create a set of rules to govern the shops going forward.
The current draft regulations would allow smoke shops in commercial and industrial zones. It would bar smoke shops from opening within 300 feet of another smoke shop or marijuana dispensary, and it would also forbid them from opening within 1,000 feet of a school, a residential parcel, or a community center providing services to people under 21.
It defines a smoke shop as any “retail establishment where ten percent or more of the retail area is dedicated to the sale of tobacco products, or any product derived from or including tobacco, nicotine, or synthetic nicotine, regardless of their delivery system, including, but not limited to, smoking, smokeless, or electronic delivery systems.”
Heon worried that the regulations might be too restrictive. He pointed out that convenience stores would be affected by the regulations, and he said he was worried that there may not be any space in Ansonia which meets all of the criteria.
“I know we don’t want these things everywhere, but there are areas where there’s decent separation but it may be within 1,000 feet, that’s all I’m saying,” Heon said.
He said there are other barriers aside from distance which provide separation, pointing as an example to the massive wall that separates Columbia Street from Main Street.
Heon asked what the current rules are for dispensaries. Elder said they’re banned from opening within 200 feet of schools or churches (Ansonia currently has no permitted marijuana facilities).
The commission tabled the discussion for next month. Elder said they could consider extending the current moratorium at their regularly scheduled meeting for Feb. 24.
