🔒Towns reshape rigid land-use rules as they embrace ‘live, work, play’ development

Towns across Connecticut are embracing the “live, work, play” development concept, and working to create vibrant and all-inclusive central village districts.

State agencies like the departments of Transportation and Economic and Community Development are supporting similar transit-oriented development strategies and offering towns grants for sidewalks, road improvements, traffic studies, safety measures, brownfield remediation and consultants.

Yet, a challenge for some towns has been navigating zoning regulations that some experts say are not up to speed with new development concepts.

To expedite revitalization efforts, towns like Cheshire, Berlin, Watertown and Windsor are creating their own special development districts or form-based codes to allow a number of different uses in areas where only one specific designation may have been permitted.

In early August, Windsor officials and a development team broke ground on a massive mixed-use Great Pond Industrial project off Day Hill Road. It will contain residential units, retail storefronts, warehouses, bioscience and data centers, alongside recreation and open space areas.

The property is a remediated brownfield where Winstanley Enterprises and Northpoint Development officials sought to establish a cluster development governed by a form-based code, essentially building “a city within a city with its own zoning code,” Winstanley officials said.

Form-based code allows for the variety of uses the developers believe will entice residents to want to live, work and play there.

Cheshire town officials are teaming up with the Ball & Socket Arts nonprofit to revitalize not only the former factory buildings on West Main Street, but the area around it.

They want to build a true “downtown” area through a new West Main Street Business District that aims “to develop flexible zoning regulations designed to encourage adaptive reuse of properties,” tied into the new arts center along the Farmington Canal Linear Trail.

Cheshire received state funding for brownfield remediation work related to the former industrial property as well as money to hire a consultant to study the area around the Ball & Socket.

The property, when completed, will ideally contain open-air markets, a large event venue space, brewery, retail storefronts, art galleries, sidewalks and ample parking linking the linear trail to the Ball & Socket Arts campus and a redesigned “downtown”/West Main Street area.

Some West Main Street parcels are slated for development, and some are underdeveloped, town officials said. A consultant will help determine how the town could best use form-based zoning to achieve the development district concept, said Coordinator of Economic Development Andrew Martelli.

Form-based code is a loosening of the constraints on traditional zoning that may no longer work for a specific part of a city or town, Martelli said.

Flexible uses, design

Berlin is revitalizing its Kensington Village area around a new Hartford-Springfield train station. Recent development includes a repurposed historic building that is now a bustling brewery, and new builds and mixed-use projects with retail, restaurants, and residential sprouting up.

Berlin was able to accomplish these projects, in part, by modifying density guidelines in the village to better accommodate mixed-use development, said Economic Development Director Chris Edge.

Officials in Windsor took a similar approach. The town established a special Central District Development District years ago to encourage rehabilitation and redevelopment through flexible uses and design.

Windsor Town Planner Eric Barz said the town got creative with density to increase the number of residential units in building projects without increasing the size of buildings or adding more traffic.

Town regulations previously allowed 20 housing units per acre; now the guidelines are 35 bedrooms per acre, he said, which discourages larger two- to three-bedroom units while still creating housing stock.

This was a way to still put people downtown while working with Windsor’s limited development space around the rail line, river floodplain and existing buildings.

“We have to make the most of what we have, and by increasing density we maximize the number of transit-oriented district units and people to go with it who will ride the train, eat in the restaurants and shop in the shops,” he said.

Transit-oriented development is a state initiative, and agencies are working to use transit centers to enhance economic development, job-accessible housing, retail amenities and quality of life in many of Connecticut’s walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.

Mike Goman, of East Hartford-based Goman + York Property Advisors, said mixed-use development is not a new concept, but he does see the tide turning from retail and office space development to central-area, mixed-use.

Contrary to 20 years ago when zoning regulations were more rigid and strict, allowing very precise and limited use, more land-use boards and town officials are recognizing that zoning should be an ever-changing guideline, adapting to the needs of a town and demands of the market.

“The original focus was to separate uses,” Goman said, and that idea seems to be fading as towns are taking a more liberal approach to zoning regulations.

But attempts to revamp zoning have, in some cases, prompted opposition from residents who argue that zoning rules were put in place to protect a town.

National developer John Lombard of the Waterbury-based Lombard Group, applied to create a special development district in Watertown on a former Sealy mattress factory site.

It sparked opposition from neighbors who said the allowances were too broad with practically no restrictions in place for prospective development tenants.

Lombard said he and his team sought the designation to allow a wide range of uses so they could court national tenants that would set up shop in a matter of weeks instead of many months or years navigating the current land-use approval process.

Barz said form-based code can, in fact, be a trade off; by allowing flexibility of use, a land-use board could have more say in what a project looks like, and determine what is allowed and not allowed for a particular site.

Windsor’s guidelines for its district also attempt to “whenever possible, provide for the preservation of meaningful historic buildings, promote appropriate architectural and site design, and provide amenities that will encourage pedestrian use and enjoyment of the centers,” Barz said.

Having realistic expectations of a new development district or form-based zoning codes is also imperative for success, Goman said.

A lot of retail and office space has become obsolete, and Connecticut has too much of both.

Most towns are recognizing that they can’t attract those types of tenants anymore.

“Our advice is to focus on food and beverage, arts and entertainment; today people are looking for experiences, along with residential,” and recreation like parks, bike paths and walking trails, Goman said.