Toddy Hill Road—

Masonicare To Convert House For Office Space

By Andrew Gorosko

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have approved a proposal to allow Masonicare Health Center of 139 Toddy Hill Road to convert a nearby house for office use by Masonicare Home Health and Hospice Services.

Following a February 17 public hearing, P&Z members approved a special permit, a change of zone, and a zoning rule change that will allow the organization to expand and convert an existing adjacent log house at 147 Toddy Hill Road for office space to be used by Masonicare staffers who manage the organization’s home health care and hospice services.

The driveway that now links the log house to Toddy Hill Road would be closed. A new driveway would link the building to Masonicare’s existing entrance driveway.

The 43-acre Masonicare complex includes a nursing home, which was built in 1983, and an assisted-living building, known as Lockwood Lodge, which was built in 1999.

Engineer Larry Edwards, representing Masonicare, said that converting the log house for office space would provide an “accessory use” for the Masonicare complex. The expanded log house would measure approximately 2,300 square feet in floor area, he said. Town assessment records list the single-family house as now having 1,388 square feet of living area.

A parking lot would provide 11 vehicle spaces, Mr Edwards said. The planned addition to the house would be of the same architectural style as the existing house, he said.

The Masonicare Home Health and Hospice Services unit, which is now located on Federal Road in Brookfield, would relocate to 147 Toddy Hill Road, he said.

Mary Cosgrove, Masonicare’s director of home health and hospice services for western Connecticut, told P&Z members that the office space would house six workers. It would normally be used from 8 am to 5 pm on Mondays through Fridays.

Several residents who live near the Masonicare complex spoke at the public hearing that preceded the P&Z’s vote to approve the project.

Michael Wilson of 149 Toddy Hill Road said he likes the plans to connect the driveway for 147 Toddy Hill Road to the Masonicare complex’s driveway. He expressed concerns that vehicles using the new driveway could cause vehicular headlamps to shine onto his property.

Jennifer Wilson, of the same address, said she would like to have some evergreen visual buffering installed on the 147 Toddy Hill Road site.

“We didn’t move to Newtown to be next door to an office building,” she said.

Charles Dubois of 7 Marlin Road asked what other uses Masonicare might potentially seek in the future for the site.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean said any potential future uses for the site sought by the group would need to be submitted to the P&Z for formal review.

P&Z members then voted to grant Masonicare three separate approvals for its office space project.

The P&Z agreed to modify the town zoning map to change the existing zoning designations for the two-acre 147 Toddy Hill Road site from Farming/Residential-1 (FR-1) and Farming/Residential-2 (FR-2) to Elderly Housing-10 (EH-10).

Also, P&Z members agreed to add the term “home health care agency” as a permitted use in an EH-10 zone.

Additionally, the panel granted the project a special zoning permit.