EL builder proposes affordable housing

Development would feature 80 units on N. Bride Brook Road

East Lyme — A local homebuilder is forging ahead to see that an affordable housing development he proposed on the west side of town moves forward, despite the Inland Wetland Agency putting up roadblocks to a similar proposal he made earlier this year.

Developer Jason Pazzaglia, owner of the custom homebuilding company Pazz & Construction LLC of East Lyme, under the state’s affordable housing statutes, this past week submitted to the Zoning Commission an “application for site-plan approval” proposing an 80-unit affordable housing development on North Bride Brook Road near Bride Lake.

He proposed a similar project to the Inland Wetland Agency earlier this year that was denied without prejudice in May due to concerns the development would adversely impact a nearby brook.

Changing plans

In that earlier application, Pazzaglia had sought to build three of the 13 proposed buildings within 100 feet of the brook, creating a need to go before the wetlands agency, which reviews all proposed activity within 100 feet of a body of water or watercourse, for permit approval. Pazzaglia since has appealed that May decision in New London Superior Court.

But in his new application to the Zoning Commission, Pazzaglia has, according to submitted plans, repositioned buildings and eliminated those sitting within what’s known as the upland review area, bypassing the need to formally go before the Inland Wetland Agency for a permit.

The Zoning Commission accepted his application at its regular meeting Thursday and scheduled a public hearing on Oct. 15.

Commission members did not comment on Pazzaglia’s application Thursday and Pazzaglia was not immediately available by phone.

In his new application, Pazzaglia proposes to build 80 multifamily units within 10 buildings over a smaller footprint compared to his first proposal, which had outlined building 108 multifamily units within 13 buildings on about 12 of the 20 acres he owns at the 90 North Bride Brook Road property.

In a submitted affordability plan to the Zoning Commission, he outlined that 24 of the proposed 80 units would be rented as affordable housing, while the rest would be rented at market rate.

The undeveloped property, which Pazzaglia purchased for $450,000 from its estate owner, Edward H. Dzwilewski, in 2017, abuts the southern side of Interstate 95 and is located about a mile away from the eastern side of the Rocky Neck Connector.