A firm that wants to redevelop the site of the former Inn at Newtown at 19 Main Street with a multifamily housing complex has submitted two applications for such a project to the Borough Zoning Commission (BZC).

One application seeks to create zoning regulations known as the Borough Residential Overlay District (BROD) zone, and the other application seeks a change of the zone for the property from its current R-1 (Residential) to BROD. The property is currently owned by DWR Company III LLC.

Attorney Peter Olson of Bethel, representing 19 Main Street LLC, submitted the application. The firm is a Connecticut-based limited liability company that wants to develop the 3.11-acre property with three apartment buildings. The application does not state how many apartments would be built or whether they would be rental apartments or condominiums. The apartments apparently would be market-rate dwellings, and not “age-restricted” or “affordable housing” units.

The buildings that were formerly occupied by the inn are now vacant. The inn closed for business in January 2016. The centrally located site has long been mentioned as the potential location for high-density multifamily housing, provided that the vacant deteriorating buildings there are demolished to make way for new construction.

If the BZC should approve the proposed BROD zoning rules and also approve the change of zone, it would later need to approve a site development plan for the project, according to BZC Chairman Douglas Nelson. Such approvals are subject to public hearings.

At its September 11 session, the BZC is slated to formally accept the 19 Main Street LLC applications for review. A public hearing on the applications would be held sometime in October, Mr Nelson said.