A Google satellite view of 64 Pulaski Highway, 25 acres of undeveloped land in Ansonia.
ANSONIA — A Massachusetts-based company is asking the city’s planning and zoning commission to add the phrase “assisted living facility” to the zoning rules governing undeveloped land at 64 Pulaski Highway.
The request is coming from Optimus Senior Living, a company in Southhampton, MA that develops and manages senior communities.
The commission scheduled a public hearing regarding the proposed zoning language for Monday, 6 p.m. March 16 in Ansonia City Hall. UPDATE: this meeting was postponed due to COVID-19.
According to Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic director, and John Marini, the city’s corporation counsel, Optimus is considering purchasing the land at 64 Pulaski Highway.
If the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission adds “assisted living facility” as a permitted use in the zone, it could pave the way for Optimus to submit a formal development plan for an assisted living facility to the commission — assuming Optimus decides to move forward with its deal with the property owner.
Potential Buyer Talks
K. Christian Boysen, of Optimus Senior Living, said Wednesday his company is in an exploratory phase. There is a contract in place with the property owner, but it hasn’t been finalized.
“Right now we’re just doing our due diligence,” Boysen said.
Boysen submitted a three-page letter to the Ansonia P & Z dated Feb. 10 suggesting where “assisted living facility” could be added to the city’s zoning rules. The letter is a public document and is embedded at the bottom of this story.
Members of the commission formally accepted Boysen’s letter at their Feb. 24 meeting. The letter was referred to city staff for review and a public hearing was scheduled, according to the minutes from the meeting, which are published below.
The Woods
Past development plans for the land have been controversial. It’s zoned residential. It’s bordered by Pulaski Highway to the north, Farrell Drive to the east, Fitzpatrick Road to the west, and Coe Lane to its south.
Its immediate borders are surrounded by more than 20 single-family houses in Ansonia’s ‘Hilltop’ neighborhood. Most of the bordering houses sit on land that is less than half-an-acre.
Neighbors have previously staged strong opposition to development there, such as a plan to put 30 houses on the 25-acre property.
They said Ansonia residential zones are already over-developed, and that the city should preserve what little wooded areas are left. In addition, they’ve said the past proposals were just too intense for the land and did not fit with what’s already there. In addition, there were concerns over adding students to the Ansonia public school system, which already struggles with funding.
Ansonia city government considered buying the land in 2010, but the $2 million asking price was too high.
In 2011, John Marini, then an Alderman representing the city’s Seventh Ward, proposed the city take the land through eminent domain. That idea did not move forward.
While a potential assisted living facility would not burden city schools, neighbors on Facebook said they plan to attend the March 16 Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to tell the panel to keep the zoning language as is. The Valley Indy left a voicemail Wednesday with a resident who started a discussion thread on the subject on an Ansonia community Facebook page.
Some residents said an assisted living facility makes more sense on Ford Street, the site of the former Hilltop Health Center, a nursing home that closed in 2011. That property is 1.6 miles from 64 Pulaski Highway.
Chuck Zemola, a resident who lives near the property, said the talk of an assisted living facility caught neighbors off guard. The neighbors want the woods left alone, according to Ansonia P&Z minutes from Feb. 24. The neighbors are also concerned about what happens to the property if an assisted living facility is allowed on the property but fails financially, minutes show. The neighbors were also of the belief that the City of Ansonia is in “partnership” with the property, and that closed door meetings were taking place.
Marini and O’Malley told The Valley Indy this week the city isn’t involved in the potential development.
An online tax assessor database lists the owner of 64 Pulaski Highway as “Kirk Walter, et al.” The Valley Indy was unable to find a contact number Wednesday. Taxes on the vacant land generate about $9,000 a year.
The Letter
The addition of “assisted living facility” would allow them in Ansonia’s ‘residential – A’ zone. The language asks that the facilities not be allowed on any property less than 10 acres. The letter proposes that the assisted living facilities not be more than 4 stories or 52 feet in height. City staff is researching how many properties would be affected.
A proposal involving a four-story building, if it was to happen, would likely be vehemently opposed by neighbors.
Right now, nursing homes are a permitted use in the zone, along with “chronic and convalescent” care facilities.
Boysen, of Optimus Senior Living, said it’s too early to talk about how many units could be built or what the building could look like. Design plans have not been created at this point, Boysen said.
Other Projects
In 2017, Optimus purchased publicly-owned land from the local government in Ware, Mass. for $100,000. The company redeveloped the 6- acre property into an approximate 100-unit, 4‑story assisted and senior community, according to a news article on Mass Live.
It was a $25 million project. That facility is scheduled to open this summer. It will employee about 70 people, according to Mass Live.
The Ware project isn’t a nursing home, according to media descriptions. It’s part of the new “aging in place” philosophy, which has been replacing the nursing home concept.
Seniors 55 and up move into their own apartments. Rents in Ware are reported to be $3,500 a month. Assisted living apartments in Ware are scheduled to be rented for $5,800 a month, according to Mass Live.
The assisted living facilities do not have the hospital or institutional vibe that came with traditional nursing homes.
“We are not a nursing home,” Mass Live quoted Robert Kelley, the company’s lawyer, as saying, but “we provide personal care and assistive care.”
Optimus also played a role in developing a 115-unit facility in Bozrah that is expected to generate $330,000 in property taxes, according to an article published by the Norwich Bulletin.
The letter from the company is embedded below. It is followed by the unofficial meeting minutes from the Feb. 24 meeting of the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission.
64 Pulaski Highway Zone Text Amendment Change by The Valley Indy on Scribd
PZC 2-24-2020 by The Valley Indy on Scribd
