EAST LYME — Traffic, building heights, sight lines from Dodge Pond and emergency power were among the concerns of the Zoning Commission Thursday during a pre-application presentation of Niantic Village, a senior assisted living and medical facility slated for 38 acres at 200 Pennsylvania Ave.
Developer Eric Pelletier, of Huntington, N.Y., told the commission the project was designed to house about 500 people aged 55+ and allow them to “age in place” depending on how their health care needs change, from independent living to assisted living to memory care.
“The goal is to give everyone something to do,” said Pelletier. “We want to utilize Main Street as much as possible. It’s the more we can bring people to Main Street and give them something to do and then take them back – because you don’t want to just sit in your room all day. The goal is to create that vibrant community.”
The presentation was a concept intended to solicit feedback from the commission on the project, emphasized Attorney William Sweeney, a principal at Tobin, Carberry, O’Malley, Riley, and Selinger in New London, who represented Pelletier at the meeting.
“We’ve been working with this group on this concept plan for almost a year now and the design has gone through multiple iterations already, including downsizing the project significantly,” Sweeney told the commission Thursday.
The project was presented last year to the town’s Water and Sewer Commission in a request for sewage capacity for 340 units of senior residential units, 125 assisted living beds and 25 memory care beds, plus amenities that included a public cafeteria, retail shops and a small movie theater.
The new plan includes 216 independent living two-bedroom units consisting of 144 lake front condos and 72 rental apartments, 120 assisted living beds, and 30 memory care beds. The plan also includes 32 two-bedroom rental units for visiting family and staff. Amenities include a three-story community building and an indoor pool.
The project also includes a 45,000-square-foot medical building that includes an urgent care, radiology and imaging services, medical offices, and the assisted living and memory care units.
The overall plan includes 434 parking spaces, exceeding the 360 that are required.
Pelletier said that a key concept of the residential units was mobility. The buildings would be interconnected by covered walkways and serviced by 20 elevators, all connecting to the community center.
“Connected walkways and the elevators really allow the residents to come out of their units and they can congregate on the walkways. They can move – everyone has the little scooters… We know we have created a vibrant community that will require interaction,” he said.
Sight lines
The project would split the entire site into two portions divided naturally by a stream, which previously flowed into Little Dodge Pond. The plan includes building a roadway bridge over the stream and restoring the pond by rebuilding a dam along the stream.
The three-story 45,000-square foot medical building are sited at the front of the site closest to the entrance at Pennsylvania Avenue.
“We did model it on the residential character of Pennsylvania Avenue,” said Pelletier, who emphasized that the medical buildings will not be visible from Pennsylvania because extensive landscaping will be added.
Across the new bridge, toward the back of the site, will be six 50-foot, four-story buildings that will face Dodge Pond. Nearby will be three- and four-story buildings containing the rental units.
Sweeney told the commission that the design had been updated so that the residential buildings were set back from Dodge Pond by a “substantial wooded buffer” to provide aesthetic and environmental protection to the site. Sweeney also acknowledged that residents on the other side of Dodge Pond will be able to see the residential buildings.
Commissioner Michael Foley noted that the presentation omitted renderings of the sightlines from across Dodge Pond.
“It’s going to be more than just visible, it will be monolithic from the other side of Dodge Pond, essentially a five-story building on a hill, above the pond. It’s going to be enormous. That architectural rendering is very deceptive,” said Foley.
Later in the meeting, Pelletier said the buildings on Dodge Pond are 50 feet in height and the trees are 40 feet in height
“The only part you see is the upper floor peeking over the trees, so it’s not like we’re going to have skyscrapers on Dodge Pond,” he said.
Commissioner Denise Markovitz, a nearly-25-year resident of town, said that the height of the buildings, and other issues, had raised concerns among residents.
“You have a lot of people around Dodge Pond who bought their homes there because they love the view of Dodge Pond. I think you’re going to get a lot of pushback about the big tall buildings in front… I just want you to know I’ve heard personally from a lot of residents concerning this particular project.”
Lot coverage, traffic, ambulances, generators
Pelletier said that project will disturb approximately 19 out of 38 acres, and said the plan was only proposing “15 percent lot coverage.”
“We’re really only using 53 percent of the actual area of the property,” he said.
But when Foley questioned whether the 15 percent coverage excluded parking lots and roads, Pelletier said the 15 percent only included the building footprints.
Foley also asked how much of the lot was not buildable and if Little Dodge Pond was included in the total acreage, and Sweeney responded that Little Dodge Pond was part of the 38 acres.
Foley said that the 53 percent was disingenuous since unbuildable land was included in the calculation.
“The number is presented to create an impression but you can’t build on Dodge Pond anyway, so it’s not like you’re just leaving it alone out of kindness,” Foley said.
Sweeney said the wetlands were included in the total acreage. “There is a considerable amount of upland that is not being developed but you’re correct that there are wetland areas on the plan that are not being developed,” he said.
The commissioners questioned the traffic that 500 potential residents would produce. Sweeney said that comprehensive traffic studies would be done if the project moves to the application phase.
Commissioner Norman Peck told Pelletier that there will be significant public objection to the project because public sentiment is that the town is overdeveloping, and that the traffic generated by the project will be a problem.
Pelletier said the complex would provide two shuttle buses to take residents to and from town, which would provide activities for residents and economic benefit to the town.
“It’s a great economic benefit with little impact – to both Main Street and our project will have – the shuttle service, the walkway paths,” he said.
He said the complex would also provide three ambulances that would transport residents to an on-site urgent care center, open 16 hours a day, in the front medical building, or to the hospital.
“We will have three ambulances so that there will be little impact on the town’s fire department or emergency services,” said Pelletier.
He said that the medical building will be primarily for residents in the complex but if neighbors need to use the urgent care, they will not be turned away.
Commissioner Nancy Kalal questioned whether generators would be available during a power outage to run the building elevators.
Pelletier said that the elevators were part of the egress system and would be covered by generators along with HVAC, life safety systems, alarms, emergency lighting and security, but that electricity for personal use in the residences would not. The assisted living and memory care facilities would have full generator backup, he said.
The plan will require approval of a zoning overlay district and a developer-funded 4000-linear-foot sewer extension, Sweeney said.
“Why are people looking at this? Because this is the future demand if you look at all the demographic studies of the area, in 10-20 years, there is going to be a pressing need for these types of living arrangements as people are aging,” Sweeney said.