A 140-unit residential development proposed off Long Hill Cross Road in Shelton is heading toward defeat.
Shelton’s Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday (July 9) directed City Hall staff to draft a resolution denying the proposal the commission will vote on Aug. 13.
The commission’s chairman said during the meeting that changing the zoning of the land to allow residential use would create a precedent that would lead to other property owners making similar proposals conflicting with the city’s Plan for Conservation and Development.
“They’re disappointed,” said the applicants’ attorney, Stephen Bellis, when his clients, developer Albert J. Grasso and builder Joseph Salemme, met in the hallway after the commission’s discussion made it clear which way its members were leaning.
The developers had proposed a Planned Development District zone change to allow 60 single-family houses and 80 multi-family condominium units on a 40-acre parcel bounded by Route 8, Long Hill Cross Road and Beard Sawmill Road.
The application indicated that they would propose adding an assisted living facility on the Beard Sawmill Road end of the parcel if they received approval of the first phase.
But the assisted living facility was the only part of the proposal that any of the zoning commissioners said they liked.
The tone was set at the outset of Tuesday’s discussion by PZC Chairman Ruth Parkins, who said she felt it diverged too much from the current zoning for light industrial and commercial office uses designated in the Plan for Conservation and Development.
Click here for a previous story about objections to the development.
She also felt that allowing a zoning change for a large, high-density residential development would encourage other commercial property owners in Shelton’s Bridgeport Avenue-Route 8 corridor to make similar proposals, and having allowed it once would make it difficult to turn down the others.
That would not be in the best interests of Shelton, Parkins said.
PZC member Anthony Pogoda agreed with her assessment, and also with the feeling that the assisted living facility was the only part of the proposal that was appropriate for the city’s commercial corridor.
Another assisted living facility was approved last May for an underutilized portion of the Split Rock shopping center at the corner of Bridgeport Avenue and Old Stratford Road, less than a half mile from the Hawks Ridge site.
The developers had argued at the public hearing that there is no market for developments consistent with the current zoning of the parcel, but there is demand for housing in Shelton.
They also presented testimony that said the residential development they proposed would be economically advantageous for the city. It would bring in tax revenue without significantly raising costs for city services and schools, they said.
Click here to read more.
The 40-acre parcel has been owned and farmed by the Wells family since sometime in the 1800s.
Parkins addressed the market demand issue as well.
She said the market conditions that have made it difficult to develop the land under the current zoning are a national issue, not just a local one.
But if the city has patience, Parkins said she feels the market for light industrial and commercial development will eventually revive.
