Lee, one of a handful of neighboring property owners who showed up to Ansonia City Hall Thursday for a hearing on a proposed 10-home subdivision off Castle Lane, got a pleasant surprise when Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Joseph Jaumann announced the application had been withdrawn.
After weeks of negotiations, the developer, Mark Romano, and the city signed an agreement Thursday giving Ansonia an option to buy the 14-acre property if it can obtain a grant to fund the purchase.
The Board of Aldermen approved the agreement after discussing it behind closed doors — allowed when a public agency is discussing real estate deals — during a special meeting Tuesday.
“We did reach an agreement,” Dominick Thomas, Romano’s lawyer, said Thursday afternoon. “We’re withdrawing.”
He referred a reporter’s questions to the agreement itself.
The Valley Indy reported negotiations were in progress last month.
Background
The development proposal has been on the drawing board in one form or another for five years. Neighbors oppose it, citing worries about water use — property owners in the area use wells, not city water — and the sloping topography of the land.
Neighbors also say there’s enough housing there already.
Click here for more background from a previous story.
The Planning & Zoning Commission held a public hearing on the proposal last month, but the developer and his lawyer didn’t show, citing “an effort to address all comments from your staff and to continue discussions with corporation counsel.”
Application Withdrawn
Jaumann read a letter from Thomas at the beginning of Thursday’s hearing withdrawing the application.
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Thursday’s developments do not guarantee that the city will buy the property — the sale is contingent on the city obtaining a grant to fund 90 percent of the purchase price.
The purchase price listed in the agreement — $525,000.
Romano’s limited liability company bought the land for $250,000 in November 2010, according to city land records.
While grants don’t grow on trees, the city has been successful in obtaining millions of dollars for everything from the rebuilding of Wakelee Avenue to downtown redevelopment to building roads at Fountain Lake industrial park.
Mayor David Cassetti said Thursday he hopes the city’s grant writer, Sheila O’Malley, will have luck finding funding for the purchase.
“I’m hoping she works her magic,” the mayor said.
If the city doesn’t take up the option to buy by May 31, 2016 — and doesn’t agree with Romano to extend the agreement — the developer will be allowed to re-file the subdivision proposal and have the application fees waived.
Reaction
Residents at Thursday’s meeting were happy.
“Wahoo!” Lee, a North Prospect Street resident, told the commission. “Thank you so much. I’m glad the town is working for us.”
The First Ward’s two Aldermen — Randolph Carroll and Charles Stowe — also welcomed the news.
“We hope it works out and the city purchases this property,” Carroll said.
Stowe, who lives on Granite Terrace — his property abuts Romano’s — is also hoping the city will end up owner of the property.
“I hope the application works out for the grant,” Stowe said, repeating concerns raised by residents regarding depletion of the water table if more homes were built in the area.
The former owner of a construction business, Cassetti repeated neighbors’ concerns over water use in the area where the development was proposed.
“I’ve been concerned about that project for a couple years,” Cassetti said. “All those people are on wells, and if you hit a certain vein drilling and blasting, you’re going to divert the water. I’ve been in that, I’ve seen it happen, and then the people would have no water.”
