Groton RTM OKs school sale to developer
Groton — The Representative Town Meeting voted unanimously Wednesday to authorize the sale of the 15-acre former William Seely School property to Kincora Development LLC.
The company, developer of the Waterford Commons shopping center, will pay the town $300,000.
“This effectively puts us at the starting line of what will be a very deliberate and community-oriented development process,” said Mark Mancuso, a partner with the Waltham, Mass.-based developer.
The development has been at the center of a struggle between neighbors of the school and those who view economic development as crucial to Groton’s future.
Mancuso said Kincora’s first inclination is to plan a mixed-use development that would include housing for young, active residents, those aged 55 and older, or both.
A mixed-use project — or one that combines housing, retail, office or other uses — makes sense at the Seely School because the property’s size allows for it and a recent market analysis of the town supports it, Mancuso said.
“It seems to be one that is favored and one that I think is appropriate given that this site location will not only serve the immediate community, but has regional access and could be attractive to the tourist base that Groton and Mystic enjoy,” Mancuso said.
The draft analysis by New Yorkbased consultant Camoin Associates recommended that Groton develop mixed-use, walkable developments that combine retail and living space, and noted that 80 percent of employees in Groton live elsewhere.
Mancuso said young people earning significant income and aging residents who prefer a smaller living space offer a market opportunity.
The majority of traffic from the Seely property would enter and exit from Route 12, Mancuso said.
The company plans to work with town planners and reach out to neighbors of the school “to create a master plan that will meet everyone’s expectations,” he said.
Gretchen Chipperini owns a roughly 5.5- acre property adjacent to the former Seely School and has been negotiating with the developer. Chipperini also owns the Super 8 Motel property, which Mancuso said Kincora would be interested in.
She told the RTM in prepared remarks that the town’s agreement with Kincora needed improvement.
“There are no protections for the local neighborhood in this agreement,” she said. The town also should have changed the property’s zoning before selling the site, she said. The Seely property is zoned residential.
Thomas Potter, who lives on Walker Hill Road near the school, said he and his neighbors want it stipulated, in writing, that all primary access to any commercial development of the former school must come from Route 12.
“We intend to see that we get what the majority of us want, and we will protest any attempt to develop the Seely School property as a standalone project,” he told the RTM. “You can read between the lines, but in case you can’t, no primary access from Walker Hill Road or Seely School Drive will be tolerated, period!”
Kincora would need approval of the zoning, traffic, inland wetlands and other commissions before it could go forward, and it would be months before anything is built, Town Manager Mark Oefinger told the RTM finance committee.
The town could provide access to Route 12 via Pleasant Valley Road South, Oefinger said.
Groton Utilities also owns the property near the school with the water tower, so that could provide added space, he said.
Kincora’s next step is to go to the Seely School site and study its physical features like wetlands and topography to determine exactly how much is buildable.