A local developer is proposing a 10-unit, age-restricted housing development in the Plantsville section of Southington that would include four duplexes, a new single-family home and an existing house on the property.
Lovely Development Inc., based in Plantsville, filed applications with the Southington Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 10 for a special permit and site plan approval for the project at 310 Buckland St.
Lovely Development filed the applications on behalf of Christine Cooke and Reeton Jones, who according to town land records own the 3.42-acre property and an existing 1.5-story single-family house that fronts on Buckland Street.
Plans filed with the applications show that a road would be constructed to the south of the existing house from Buckland Street to the rear of the property. It would include a circle with grass and trees in the center and five new buildings arranged around the outside.
Mark Lovely, owner of Lovely Development, said each of the eight duplex units would be 1,125 square feet and feature two bedrooms, one bathroom and a one-car garage. The new single-family home would have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage and total about 1,375 square feet.
The existing house at the front of the property would become the development’s 10th unit, Lovely said, and would be part of the homeowners association. Its owners, however, would maintain their own yard and would not pay association fees.
The nine new units would be sold rather than rented, Lovely said. One of the duplex units would be designated as affordable for a household earning 80% of the area median income.
Plans also show two guest parking spaces in the center circle.
Both the road and the development would be named Auburn Place.
The town rezoned the property earlier this year to allow age-restricted housing, Lovely said.
He said he helped the town write the regulations to allow detached 55-and-over housing developments on properties of at least 5 acres. The town recently amended the regulations to allow duplexes on properties of at least 3 acres, making the 3.42-acre Buckland Street site eligible for the proposed development.
The project now requires special permit and site plan approval from the commission.
Lovely said Auburn Place would be roughly his seventh age-restricted development in the past five years. His previous developments have consisted of single-family homes, he said, although the company is currently developing a 32-unit multifamily age-restricted project called Aberdeen Estate in Middlebury.
According to Lovely Development’s website, its previous projects include two 55-and-over communities in Southington and another on the Plainville-Farmington line. The website states the homes in those developments are single-family, single-story designs ranging from 1,444 to 1,610 square feet.
The commission has scheduled a public hearing on the Auburn Place applications for Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in the John Weichsel Municipal Room at 196 North Main St.
