Rob VanEggen, chairman of the Seymour Planning & Zoning Commission, addresses residents at the end of last month's meeting.
SEYMOUR – A request to amend the town’s zoning language – which could ultimately allow the Villa Bianca wedding facility to be converted into a live-in mental health treatment center – is up for discussion and a possible vote this week.
The Seymour Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday (March 9) at Seymour Town Hall. The agenda includes the ‘zone text change’ proposed by the applicant, Newport Healthcare.
Newport is seeking permission to add the phrase “community mental health residential living center” to the RC3, or recreational/commercial zone, an area along Roosevelt Drive (also known as Route 34), bordering the Housatonic River.
Approving the language would give Newport a green light to submit a site plan to the commission. The site plan would provide details of precisely what the company wants to do.
While the agenda doesn’t specify that the commission will vote on the text zone change, commission chairman Rob VanEgghen told the Valley Indy a vote is possible on Thursday.
“If we decide we have enough information to vote we will do so, if not we will table until the next meeting,” VanEgghen told the Valley Indy Monday (March 6) via an email.
The commission opened a public hearing on the request Jan. 12, which was continued on Feb. 16, and then closed that night. A vote on the proposal must happen within 65 days from the close of the hearing, or by the commission’s next monthly meeting April 13, VanEgghen said.
VanEgghen said the commission will review the testimony heard from both Newport officials, some of its clients, and the numerous residents who spoke against the proposal.
“I am personally always happy to see citizens voicing their opinions,” VanEgghen said. “I made it clear at both hearings that we are listening and taking their concerns into account in what is a complex issue.”
The initial public hearing on Jan. 12 drew a standing-room only crowd of more than 75 people. The majority of people who spoke at the first hearing urged the commission to reject Newport’s request.
While many who spoke didn’t deny the need for mental health facilities, they don’t think the Villa Bianca property is the right location for it. Many cited concerns of increased traffic along an already-congested Route 34, noise, and a potential decline in property values.
A petition with 128 signatures in opposition to the zone text change was submitted to the commission.
A handful of people who voiced support for the zone text change said Newport’s services has saved lives.
Newport is under contract to purchase Villa Bianca, located at 312 Roosevelt Dr., as well as a house next door at 129 Squantuck Road. While Villa Bianca is still open, the business posted on Facebook last month that it would be closing later this year. The post was removed, and owners have not returned calls for comment.
Newport CEO Joe Procopio had given a brief overview of what his company would like to do in Seymour, saying he’d like to see Villa Bianca converted into a 42-bed facility (with six beds in the Squantuck Road property) with about 125 employees that would treat young adults for various mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders and substance abuse.
Newport Healthcare was established in 2008 in California and has facilities in 11 states, with three in Connecticut in Bethlehem, Darien and Fairfield that treat adolescents and young adults with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and substance abuse.
