Benchmark Works On Plans For Assisted Living Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

A Massachusetts firm is continuing planning work on its proposal to build a 78-unit assisted living apartment complex for the elderly on Church Hill Road in The Borough.

Scott Cohen, project manager for Benchmark Assisted Living of Wellesley Hills, Mass., said Wednesday the firm is refining its plans for a 50,000- to 60,000-square-foot building on a vacant, wooded five-acre parcel on the north side of Church Hill Road, just east of the intersection of Church Hill Road and The Boulevard. The site is across Church Hill Road from Starbucks Coffee.

“We’re still in the early stages of the project,” Mr Cohen said, adding that the firm is proceeding through the “due diligence” aspect of developing the site. “It’s moving, but it’s been moving slowly,” he said of the planning process.

“There’s a lot of technical work that needs to worked out,” he said. The firm is researching the best way to orient and position the complex on the site, he said. 

Mr Cohen said Benchmark hopes to submit applications to develop the property within several months, hopefully before Labor Day. The firm may have preliminary sessions on the project with town land use officials in the late spring or early summer, he said.

Benchmark would require approvals from the Borough Zoning Commission and Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA).

 The firm would need an amendment to The Borough’s zoning regulations to allow an assisted living complex as a permitted land use. The borough zoning regulations currently do not allow such a use. The firm also would need a site plan approval from the commission.

Also, Benchmark would need approval from the WPCA to discharge wastewater into the municipal sewer system.

Current plans call for the complex to provide an “enter only” driveway to the site from Church Hill Road and “entrance/exit” to The Boulevard, Mr Cohen said. The firm will conduct a traffic study to learn how the complex would affect area traffic flow, he said.

The firm is considering proposing a three-level building which would have a walkout basement on its eastern side, where the land slopes away, he said. 

 The privately-held Benchmark has an option to buy the property at 37 Church Hill Road from Pepper Partners Limited Partnership. Mr Cohen has estimated construction costs for such a two-story complex at approximately $6 million. He has not disclosed the price for the real estate.

Benchmark’s interest in developing the property for an assisted living complex surfaced last fall when it asked the WPCA whether it would be allowed to connect to the municipal sewer system for waste disposal.

Besides its interest in developing a Newtown site, the firm either has existing facilities or is in the process of building or planning facilities in Southington, Newington, Mystic, Niantic, and Shelton. The firm provides housing for senior citizens who can no longer live on their own, but don’t need nursing home care.

Like most assisted living complexes, the facility being planned by Benchmark would provide specialized housing for people with memory loss problems, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Current plans call for 50 conventional assisted living apartments and 28 apartments designated for people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Mr Cohen said.

The single-building complex would include private rental apartments with kitchenettes and private bathrooms. The units typically are a mixture of studio apartments, one-bedroom apartments, and two-bedroom apartments. Round-the-clock assistance would be provided to residents who need it. Three meals would be served daily in a dining room.