08-02-2025
Plan divides New London site into development, conservation sections
New London — The Planning and Zoning Commission next month will again consider making a zoning change to allow multi-family homes on a parcel of privately-owned wooded land.
But the proposal differs significantly from one the commission rejected by a 5-2 vote in September.
First, the applicant this time is the city — not the New York-based Vessel Technology group that made the original application to re-zone the land from its current R-2 designation, which allows one- and two-family construction, to R-3, or multi-family and apartment complex construction.
The new application also calls for formally dividing the 23.57-acre parcel at 0 Stonebridge Drive into two sections. A smaller area in the north end of the property would be available for development, with the remainder to be held as a conservation easement 'to prevent any future development,' according to a Jan. 31 memo from Felix Reyes, the city's director of planning and development.
The land, bounded by Williams and Briggs streets and bisected by Briggs Brook, has been owned by the Shiloh Baptist Church for the last 26 years. Multiple attempts to sell the land have fallen through, in many cases due to zoning issues.
Ahead of the commission's September rejection vote, several neighbors with homes near the Shiloh parcel came out against the Vessel sale, citing a desire to keep the land undeveloped and use it for passive recreation.
In reaction, the Avalonia Land Conservancy in December submitted an application for a grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program to allow it to buy the Shiloh land for preservation.
A compromise plan by Mayor Michael Passero — the same plan set to be discussed by the Planning and Zoning Commission on March 6 — calls for rezoning the entire parcel as R-3. A condition of that change would require designating 15.75 acres of the land as conservation easement, leaving the remaining 7.82 acres for potential development.
Vessel leaders have not committed to revisiting their previous housing plans for the site. The company's original site plan application stated it intended to construct a 'multifamily project' on the most 'developable' southern portion of the property, identifying a 4.5-acre, kidney bean-shaped area in the southeast as the company's preferred building site.
Dennis Main, president of Avalonia's board of directors, said Friday appraisals of the land, needed as part of its state grant application — which could pay for up to 75% of the purchase price — put the value of the entire undeveloped parcel at $260,000.
In its Jan. 13 report, Russ Appraiser Services noted in April 2024, when Vessel was still attached as a potential buyer, the property was listed as under contract for about $900,000. Shiloh bought the property for $950,000 in 1999.
