Once considered for a controversial warehouse — often characterized by opponents as a distribution center — the property at 10 Hawleyville Road is again the subject of an application at the Land Use Department, this time for a zone change to residential.

The property, currently zone Industrial M-2a, would be changed to Residential R-2 if the application is approved. The application, from Sterling Properties, will be heard by the Planning & Zoning Commission at a public hearing at its 7:30 pm Thursday, May 18, meeting, to be held in the Municipal Center’s Council Chambers.

In a letter to the Land Use Department, JMC Planning Engineering Landscape Architecture Project Manager Rick Bohlander said the zone change would be for a “Garden Apartment Development” on the property, which is 102.71 acres.

A preliminary site plan submitted as part of the documents shows 14 buildings with 21 apartments each, for a total of 294 units. The plan shows a clubhouse and other amenities.

Land Use Director Rob Sibley said that an Incentive Housing Overlay is allowed in an R-2 zone by special exception, giving the P&Z Commission more leeway in accepting or denying an application, should they come in with such a site plan, which seems to be indicated by the preliminary site plan.

Sibley noted that a site plan given to the commission during a zone change was to “give some idea of what the developer is thinking” for the zone change, and may not completely reflect the actual site plan on a formal application. The site plan may even be for a completely different type of development allowable in a residential zone.

“It’s automatic [with a zone change application] to give the commission an idea of what could be, what the developer hopes to build,” said Sibley. “The application must contain sufficient description including additional documents to assist the commission in making a decision on the zone change. It says if the commission changes the zone, this could happen.”

The zone change would apply to two-thirds of the 102 acre property; as one-third of the property is already zoned residential.

“They applied to make the whole parcel residential,” said Sibley.

According to the Connecticut Department of Housing, “Incentive Housing Development (IHD) means a residential or mixed-use development that meets the following criteria — is located within a DOH approved IHZ, is eligible for financial incentive payments, and sets aside lower cost units for a minimum of 20 percent of the households earning 80 percent or less of the area median income (AMI) for a minimum of 30 years. A unit is affordable if it costs no more than 30 percent of a person’s annual income to live there.”

Incentive housing does not meet the same income restrictions as affordable housing, according to Sibley. The Covered Bridge development across the street from the proposed site is also an Incentive Housing Development, according to Sibley.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.