During a Town Council public information hearing on Tuesday, speakers overwhelmingly supported a proposal for the town of Glastonbury to buy a 10.86-acre office-building property at the end of Nye Road for at least partial redevelopment with an affordable housing complex.
But the discussion of the proposed $3.4 million purchase is far from over.
At the end of Tuesday’s discussion, council Chairman Thomas P. Gullotta said the hearing will continue on Wednesday, Nov. 9.
At least two council members asked if the town could hold a referendum on the issue. But others suggested that a referendum would further delay action on affordable housing, which the town has failed to act on for more than 30 years since the adoption of a state law on the subject.
Even assuming the land purchase is approved, there will be a lengthy process to design the housing complex, obtain necessary approvals, and build it.
Part of the goal of the development would be to qualify the town for a four-year moratorium on the applicability of the state affordable housing law, which enables private developers to avoid most zoning restrictions by setting aside 30% of the units in a development for affordable housing.
Gullotta said the housing complex would have to be “built and occupied” before it could play a part in a town application for a moratorium. Town Manager Richard J. Johnson estimated that it might be 2026 or 2027 before the town could qualify for a moratorium.
Although no detailed plans have been made, Johnson estimated that the property, together with about 3.8 acres of adjacent town-owned land, might accommodate 70 to 80 housing units.
During the hearing, Luther Weeks of Hollister Way called the availability of the Nye Road property a “unique opportunity” to build an affordable housing complex.
Denise Weeks, also of Hollister Way, cited the availability of federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act as another advantage of the proposal, as well as the site’s proximity to schools and bus lines.
Johnson said later that the town has “just shy of $4.4 million” in ARPA money available.
One of the few expressions of opposition to the plan came in a written comment from Jeffrey and Rebecca Boice of Spring Street Extension, whose property abuts the proposed housing site. They wrote that they “vehemently” oppose the plan and asked whether a traffic safety analysis had been done.
The strongest advocacy of a referendum came from Kurt P. Cavanaugh, the council’s Republican minority leader, who said the council needs more public input than it can get at two public hearings before embarking on a project that departs from what the town normally does.
The council has a Dec. 9 deadline to approve the purchase, which wouldn’t leave time for a referendum. But there were suggestions that the seller might continue to make the property available after that.
Democratic council members Mary LaChance and Lawrence Niland suggested, however, that such delays would constitute “kicking the can down the road.”
