Plans to develop North Cove property again face resistance

OLD SAYBROOK — A proposal to redevelop an abandoned research site along North Cove into a residential subdivision has run into scrutiny from town planners who questioned whether the effort fits with long-term plans to develop coastal areas.

Responding Monday to concerns aired at public meetings over the last two months, First Selectman Carl Fortuna said that he did not want those issues to derail any attempts to develop the property, which he said has become “blighted” over years of disuse.

Fortuna said his remarks were not in

tended to express support for any specific proposal. “I just worry that it’s going to sit for another 20 years and [nothing getting done],” he said.

The proposed development, at 91 Sheffield St., would see the construction of four houses along the 10-acre property, about half of which is tidal wetlands, according to attorney Marjorie Shansky, who is representing Branford-based developer.

Renderings submitted to the town’s planning and zoning commissions also include dock space and parking for public water access, which Shansky said could be used to launch small boats, such as canoes and kayaks.

Building would only occur along the oddlyshaped parcel’s existing footprint of abandoned buildings, Shansky said, to avoid disturbing the wetlands, as well as additional regulations required for construction closer to the Connecticut River.

“This is really a way in which to put the land — long idle — to productive use, respecting its natural resource components and providing for single-family homes as well,” Shansky said.

Despite those efforts to build goodwill surrounding the project, the developers and Shansky have run into trouble in the early stages of their effort to get approval from the town. That began with a request for a new development district that will allow them to build on lands currently zoned for marine industrial use.

The request has attracted some resistance from both the town’s Planning Commission and Harbor Management Commission.

At a Planning Commission meeting last week,

several members expressed concerns that the development did not meet the goals outlined by the town’s recently completed affordable housing plan, which focused on the need for smaller, apartment-style housing. Less than 3 percent of the existing housing stock in Old Saybrook is considered affordable, according to the state Department of Housing.

“My concern is that this, as written, might end up perpetuating sprawl or perpetuating additional high-cost single-family housing that is not what we need, not what we are looking to encourage,” said Megan Jouflas, a commission alternate.

While the Planning Commission delayed any action on the development, the town’s Harbor Management Commission voted in July to send a letter to the Zoning Commission stating that the proposed change to maritime industrial zones and the proposed development were “inconsistent” with the town’s harbor

management plan.

After Shansky pushed back on the wording of the letter, the commission voted last week to clarify that its opposition was only for the proposed zoning change.

The proposal has also attracted some opposition from at least one potential neighbor, Molly Clark, who wrote to the Zoning Commission last month expressing her desire to see the property remain undeveloped.

“To think that all those trees would be cut down, and many houses built, and a dock constructed on a narrow finger of the cove, causes true anxiety, because I know it is absolutely the wrong thing to do,” Clark said. “It is time to preserve what we have left of open spaces.”

Fortuna said Monday that similar opposition from neighbors scuttled talks about a year ago to build on the property around 20 residential units — a density that the town’s housing plan allows.

“I don’t even know that it was ever really presented because the neighbors had a lot of opposition to it,” Fortuna said.

The property, once the home of an Old Saybrookbased oceanographic research firm, currently has four structures on it, one of which has collapsed, according to site renderings. Shansky said the property has been vacant for a decade and that the new developers plan to demolish all the buildings.

Both Shansky and Old Saybrook Town Planner Chris Costa were unavailable for comment Friday and Monday.

The ultimate decision rests with the Zoning Commission, which is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the plan.

Old Saybrook Planning Commission / Contributed image A rendering submitted to the Old Saybrook Zoning Commission shows details of a proposed development at 91 Sheffield St. North Cove is at the top.