Developers Seek To Open Some Facilities At Homesteads To Public

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has modified the town’s zoning regulations to allow The Homesteads at Newtown, LLC, to offer some of the facilities that are planned for its Hawleyville elderly housing complex to be used by the general public.

Attorney William Denlinger, representing the Homesteads, told P&Z members October 5 the Homesteads reviewed the P&Z’s comments on its previous proposal to open some of it facilities to the general public before it formulated its revised proposal. The Homesteads withdrew its initial proposal on the matter in August.

The Homesteads is building a $50 million 298-unit elderly housing complex at 166 Mt Pleasant Road in Hawleyville. The 100-unit “assisted living” phase of the complex is slated to open later this fall.

The zoning amendment approved by the P&Z October 5 would allow the Homesteads to have facilities open to the general public including a kitchen, dining room, recreation room, fitness room, physical therapy room, plus facilities for medical professionals, personal care, and beauty.

By having such facilities on the premises, the Homesteads is seeking to enrich the lives of the people who live there, Mr Denlinger said. But in order to make such facilities viable, the developer wants to open those facilities to the public, he added.

Mr Denlinger stressed that the facilities are primarily intended for residents of the complex.

“It’s a great concept,” Mr Denlinger said.

P&Z Chairman Daniel Fogliano said the Homesteads’ revised proposal for the zoning amendment to allow general public usage of certain facilities is a clear improvement over its previous version of the proposal.

Linda Silberstein assured the P&Z that the Homesteads would have sufficient parking for the public. Mrs Silberstein and her husband, Dr Morton Silberstein, are the developers of the complex.

Mr Denlinger stressed the complex will have more parking spaces than are required by the zoning regulations, and sufficient parking area to accommodate members of the public who go to the Homesteads for services.

“We’re breaking some new ground here,” Mr Denlinger said of the Homesteads plans to allow the general public to use certain facilities.

The Homesteads has been good about seeking approvals from the P&Z before it makes changes to its plans, said P&Z member Heidi Winslow. The P&Z has experienced problems in the past with some developers who make changes to their complexes, and then seek P&Z endorsements for those changes after the fact.

The various services The Homesteads intends to provide would be good both for its residents and for members of the public who would use those services, Mr Fogliano said. Providing such services also would improve the local tax base, he added.

P&Z members then unanimously approved the zoning amendment sought by the Homesteads.

Since receiving its 1998 P&Z approval for the housing complex, the firm has returned to the P&Z for several modifications to its special exception to the zoning regulations to make various changes to the complex.

The complex will include 100 assisted living units, 160 congregate housing units, and 38 condos. The overall project is slated for completion by 2004. An estimated 350 people are expected to live at the completed Homesteads.

The project’s construction has sparked the extension of public utilities to Hawleyville, with the installation of public water and sewer lines to serve the project.