KENT, Conn.—Relief for the housing crunch in Kent may be on the horizon.
The Planning and Zoning Commission heard a presentation Thursday, July 10, by James Millstein, managing member of Kent Housing Development Associates, about a proposed 76-dwelling unit development planned for a large open field adjacent to town hall.
The Associates purchased the land from developer John Casey last year and successfully petitioned the PZC to extend its housing incentive overlay zone to encompass 12.7 acres. Millstein and his design team have been working on plans ever since, but he approached the PZC last Thursday with an additional request.
Millstein explained that, as it exists, the overlay zone allows only single- and two-family structures. “The Planning and Zoning Commission extended the housing incentive overlay to allow greater density,” said Millstein. “We’re proposing to develop it in its entirety, but we have a preliminary site plan that provides for multi-family housing. If we proceed with that it would require changes in the regulations for the overlay district.”
“There is a lot of deliberation and consultation still needed,” said Millstein, “but the town is desperately in need of workforce and affordable housing, so we are eager to proceed with this. With 76 units, it averages out to six units per acre. We’ve been through a number of schemes, but the requirement for single-family homes would push homes to every corner. This plan allows us to pull back from the edges and keep some rural feeling on the site.”
Fifteen units, or 20 percent of the project, would be deed restricted as affordable. This, combined with the town’s existing 37 affordable housing units and an additional dozen now being developed by Kent Affordable Housing, would bring the affordable housing stock to about 60 units.
The remaining units in the new development would be priced for workforce housing or families that are downsizing.
The property currently in question consists of an 11.5-acre empty field as well as a 1.1-acre parcel at 15 Landmark Lane that has an empty building on it. Millstein said he has had multiple conversations with First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer about the Landmark Lane building. The Associates’ plan calls for one of its larger structures at that location, but Lindenmayer’s vision is for the building to be used as a recreation center for Kent’s townspeople.
Millstein said he recognizes the need for a municipal recreational facility but that if the town develops a recreation center there, the current housing plan would have to be altered and there would be less open and green space.
Lindenmayer told the PZC that he enthusiastically endorses the effort to bring additional housing to Kent but feels the opportunity to provide a community recreation facility should be embraced. Both men agreed that there is room for compromise.
The Associates currently own the parcel. Millstein suggested the recreation facility could be financed as part of the larger development and that the town could then hold a long-term lease for its use. The preliminary plan already includes a 2,500-square-foot recreation facility for the new development that could be eliminated to provide space.
Jeremy Lake of Union Studio Architects and Design, a community design practice out of Providence, R.I., explained the preliminary proposal, which aims to integrate the new housing complex into the town as a “walkable, mixed-use community.”
“One of the biggest things is extending Kent Green Boulevard rather than dead-ending it at [the town hall]. There has been a lot of debate as to how to bring it through the site,” he said.
Ultimately, what is proposed is a tree-lined residential street that bisects the property with a second exit onto Route 341. At a total width of 28 feet, the road would provide space for parallel parking for visitors and residential parking at the rear of the buildings. “We’ve tried to concentrate parking behind the buildings to make the pedestrian experience in front wonderful,” Lake said.
“Instead of a conventional subdivision, we’re proposing two housing typologies,” he continued. “Basically, very small multi-family units of stacked flats [with four units per building], as well some three-story walk-ups that max out at 12 units.”
The dwelling units would have one to three bedrooms. The stacked flats would be for sale, with the units in the larger buildings being rented. To maintain a residential feel, the three-story buildings would be designed with a half-story on the top floor to minimize the impression of mass.
Porches would be designed on the street side of the smaller units. “The buildings are in keeping with the scale of buildings in the town center,” said Lake. “We’re not talking about one 80-unit building, so it will feel like the residential community that already exists. The larger buildings would have stylistic treatments that would blend with single-family homes.
In designing the site, the planners have had to deal with an existing drainage ditch that runs through the center. “We’re trying to make something meaningful out of it,” by reconfiguring it to make it an attractive landscape element, said Lake.
PZC Chairman Wesley Wyrick termed the proposal “exciting.”
“This is what we have contemplated for years,” he said. “Density is important to us. With this we have something we can work with.”
Millstein said, “I want to get on with this because, from my conversations with the schools, the recovery center and businesses, there is a desperate need for workhouse I hope we can do this quickly.”
But he added a caveat. “The Trump tariffs are affecting [construction estimates] in a big way. In this high-interest, high-tariff environment, once we get down to pencil it out, it might turn out to be a little more difficult. But we are going to give it a good college try.”
While I applaud the First Selectman’s interest in a recreation center, the Landmark building is not the building for it. If ,on the other hand, he is interested in a swimming facility on that sight, great! Much needed for Kent. Maybe the developers would construct it. Would be a home run!