Architect Eyes Senior Apartments In Seymour

A local architect wants to construct a new five-story building to house 26 senior citizen apartments in downtown Seymour.

Joseph Migani, of O’Riordan Migani Architects in Seymour, said the proposal is the second phase” of an existing senior citizen apartment complex at 16 Bank St.

The plans call for 26 one-bedroom units and a community center in a building at 38 Columbus St., which is next to the existing apartments.

There are more and more baby-boomers becoming seniors,” Migani said. There’s a real need for housing.”

Migani hasn’t submitted a formal application to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission just yet. But he has met informally with commissioners over the past six years to talk about his plans. One such meeting happened on Jan. 12 at Seymour Town Hall. The minutes from that meeting are posted at the end of the article.

Migani said he’s getting close to filing a formal application — and hopes to have the apartments built in the next three to four years.

The Dream

Migani built the existing 12 senior apartments on Bank Street in 2008. The building includes four shops on the street level.

The Bank Street apartments are currently the only senior housing in downtown Seymour.

Migani, and officials from the Seymour Housing Authority, say the town needs more.

PHOTO: Caitlin EmmaDavid Keyser, director of the Seymour Housing Authority, said there are about 120 senior apartments total in Seymour, along with 57 assisted-living apartments. The Housing Authority currently manages the 12 apartments on Bank Street.

The Housing Authority also manages a wait list of 98 people, about 7 percent of which are seniors waiting for housing, Keyser said.

I personally think it will be a great project for downtown Seymour,” said First Selectman Kurt Miller. There’s a real need for it.”

The Seymour Housing Authority will manage the new apartments if they’re built. For example, the Housing Authority would verify income and make sure the units stay in compliance with certain requirements, like restricting renters’ age to 55 and over and limiting the percent of income needed to pay rent.

Migani hopes to apply for federal grants from the Federal Home Loan Reserve Board and state grants from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) that require compliance with these restrictions. The restrictions keep the apartments affordable for seniors, he said.

The rent will range from $650 to $975 per month, depending on the unit.

The apartments will not qualify as affordable housing” under the state General Statute, 8 – 30g, said his attorney, Dominick Thomas, Jr. of Derby.

Waiting

Migani has been planning the new apartment building for at least six years.

He first brought the idea to the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2006 while wrapping up completion on the 12 apartments at Bank Street. The commission told him to wait and finish the units on Bank Street before starting a new project.

Calls made by the Valley Independent Sentinel to members of Seymour Planning and Zoning were not returned.

After the Bank Street apartments were completed in 2008, Migani went back to the commission to float the idea another time. Since 2009, he’s gone through a series of design ideas for the new development, but said he has finally settled on one.

What’s The Hold Up?

So what’s delaying Migani from drafting a formal application?

Parking.

PHOTO: Caitlin EmmaThe Planning and Zoning Commission has specific guidelines for the number of parking spots residential buildings must have.

Migani’s apartment building would be below that requirement.

The Seymour Planning and Zoning Commission usually calls for one parking space per unit.

Migani’s current plan only leaves about half a parking space per unit. The parking lot Migani wants to build on holds 20 cars. The new building will reduce that to 15 parking spaces, he said.

Before he brings a formal application, he wants to see if the Planning and Zoning Commission will lower the requirement, and allow Migani to count municipal parking lots toward the number of required parking spots.

During certain parts of the day, (parking) is certainly difficult,” First Selectman Kurt Miller said. If parking is a concern, I wouldn’t want it to scare away customers for potential business owners.”

But Migani thinks the senior population won’t cause much traffic trouble.

The town has a legitimate concern about parking, but the impact of the senior population is low impact,” he said. There really is no parking crisis. Parking just isn’t going to be perfect in a downtown, slightly urban environment.”

Keyser, of the Housing Authority, agreed that a half space per apartment should work fine. Aside from having visitors, all of the seniors aren’t expected to own cars or drive regularly.

You don’t need one for one,” he said. You don’t even need two for one. You probably need half a space per person. I don’t think senior housing will necessary burden it, but parking downtown can still sometimes be an issue.”

Reaction

Joel Tenpenny co-owns Tea with Tracy, one of the shops operating out of the first floor at 16 Bank St.

Tenpenny said he didn’t expect more senior apartments to create more traffic problems, but he definitely has concerns about downtown parking.

A lot of these municipal lots aren’t being used,” he said, explaining that people often park on the street for long periods of time.

Parking isn’t metered in downtown Seymour. Tenpenny said the only monitoring he ever sees amounts to local police chalking tires.

The violators just don’t care,” he said. There needs to be more monitoring.”

Migani’s attorney said he plans to tell the commission that more closely monitored parking could address a downtown traffic problem by freeing up space faster.

Lt. Paul Satkowski of the Seymour Police Department agreed that parking in downtown Seymour tends to be an issue at times.”

If (Migani) does do some kind of apartment building, he’s going to need to provide off-street parking for his tenants,” Satkowski said.

Satkowski said Seymour police try to cover parking downtown as much as possible, but without meter enforcement, it’s tough.

We try to get someone down there when we can,” he said. We would like to see the town put some type of meter enforcement personnel on and we’ve proposed that in previous years, but because of budgetary reasons it’s never transpired. I think that would help resolve the issue.”

Next Steps

Migani and the commission will each conduct their own inventories of available parking in downtown Seymour, Thomas said.

Migani will present his findings to the commission at their next meeting on Feb. 9.

If the commission finds that half a parking space per unit proves adequate with enough available parking in the area, Migani will likely draft a formal application by March, Thomas said. Once the project gets official approval, Migani can start applying for federal and state funding.

Seymour Minutes Planning and Zoning 1 – 12-12

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