After back-and-forth discussions between developers, town officials and business owners, Glastonbury has rejected an affordable housing project that would have brought 48 units to a vacant property on Kreiger Lane.
The Glastonbury Town Plan and Zoning Commission on Tuesday unanimously rejected a site plan for Vessel Re Holdings to construct a new, 48-unit apartment building at 51 Kreiger Lane.
The developer has promised that at least 30% of the units will be used as affordable housing for 40 years, a key factor in receiving certain zoning exemptions through the state’s affordable housing law. But Glastonbury’s town attorney has advised the commission and town officials that 51 Kreiger Lane, which is in a “Planned Commerce” zone, wouldn’t qualify for those exemptions because it’s an industrial area.
Using this assessment from the town attorney, the commission voted to reject the application.
More than a dozen small business owners in the surrounding area attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak against the proposal, most of them arguing that a residential development isn’t a good fit for that location.
Vessel Technologies Inc., a development firm based in New York, has been actively pursuing several developments in the state recently. The company has one 30-unit building under construction in New London, along with proposals for 30 apartments near the former Ames property in Rocky Hill and an 80-unit building in Simsbury.
All three projects follow a similar formula of primarily one-bedroom apartments targeted at residents who don’t qualify for subsidized housing but for whom luxury or even market-rate rents are out of reach.
