Two Simsbury neighbors have filed a court appeal seeking to overturn the town Zoning Commission’s approval of McLean Affiliates’ plan to build 40 independent-living homes on its retirement community campus.
John Bunn, of 15 Hop Hollow, and Andrew Grossman, of 17 Hop Hollow, filed the appeal July 16 in Hartford Superior Court. Both are representing themselves. The case carries a return date of Aug. 4.
The lawsuit challenges the commission’s July 6 votes approving the development, known as McLean Meadow Homes, at the nonprofit’s 110-acre campus at 75 Great Pond Road.
The suit also challenges a companion text amendment that changed three sections of the town’s zoning regulations, including removing a requirement that healthcare facilities sit within 300 feet of an arterial road and exempting healthcare facilities and continuing care retirement communities from the town’s inclusionary housing rules.
Bunn and Grossman say they are directly affected as abutting property owners, citing drainage and flooding impacts, loss of buffering and privacy, effects on property values, and traffic concerns.
In their complaint, the two argue the commission acted “illegally, arbitrarily, unreasonably, and in abuse of the discretion vested in it.” Among their claims, they contend the commission adopted the text amendment to clear obstacles unique to McLean’s application without an adequate town-wide planning rationale, deliberated for fewer than 15 minutes before approving the applications, and signed off on the project without findings that it met the town’s siting, density, stormwater, buffering and property-value standards.
The neighbors ask the court to vacate both approvals and either send the matter back to the commission with direction to deny the applications or require a new public hearing. They also ask the court to bar any site clearing, grading or construction while the appeal is pending.
The Zoning Commission is represented by Updike, Kelly & Spellacy. McLean is represented by Joseph P. Williams of Shipman & Goodwin, the same firm that guided the application through the local approval process.
“We are aware that an appeal has been filed challenging the Simsbury Zoning Commission’s unanimous approval of the Meadow Homes and we are reviewing the complaint,” a McLean spokesperson said. “This appeal does not change our commitment to the project. We believe the Simsbury Zoning Commission made a sound decision to approve our application, and we intend to join the town in vigorously defending that approval.”
The approval follows a lengthy and contentious review. Simsbury’s wetlands commission unanimously rejected McLean’s original 52-unit proposal in May 2025, finding it would likely harm wetland hydrology. McLean returned months later with a smaller plan that cut the project to 40 duplex-style homes, reduced wetland crossings from two to one and shifted development away from protected habitat.
The wetlands agency approved the revised plan, and the zoning approvals followed.
