Lattizori presents fourth bid to develop Perkins Farm site

Mystic - More than 150 people filled the cafeteria at Mystic Middle School Tuesday night for a public hearing on the latest but still controversial proposal by developer David Lattizori for 70 acres of the Perkins Farm property off Jerry Browne Road.

Lattizori is seeking to amend the town's zoning regulations to create a Highway Transition Design District that would allow him to build Briarwood Walk at Mystic, an estimated $70 million project that would contain a mix of shops, offices, townhouses and a hotel.

Because of the long list of residents who want to speak about the proposal, the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission continued the hearing to Dec. 15.

Much of Tuesday's hearing was taken up by a two-and-a-half-hour presentation by Lattizori's development team and questions from the commission. Members of the public in favor of the project had just started to speak as of 10:05 p.m.

This was the fourth attempt Lattizori has made to develop the site over the past five years. This proposal, though, is smaller in scale than the earlier ones. For example, the number of one and two-bedroom townhouses has been reduced from 100 to 48.

Lattizori's development team stressed that this proposal calls for 50 percent of the site to remain as contiguous open space that would encircle the site on three sides with the actual buildings located along Interstate 95. The open space would link with adjacent open space owned by the Avalonia Land Conservancy. Computer-generated models show that the buildings would barely be seen from Jerry Browne Road.

Landscape architect Mike Cegan said the construction of the large Stone Ridge retirement community across Jerry Browne Road forever changed the previous rural character of the neighborhood as its 496,500 square feet of buildings on 32 acres is more than the size of the buildings planned for the 70 acres on the Lattizori project. Many of the project's opponents live at Stone Ridge.

Unlike Stone Ridge, which is close to the street, the Lattizori buildings would be located further back on the site and buffered by open space. Cegan said the architecture would have a New England seacoast feel and compared the shopping and residential village to projects such as Mashpee Commons on Cape Cod.

An economic survey presented again on Tuesday estimates the development would create 500 permanent jobs and $505,000 in annual tax revenue for the town.

Project attorney Ted Ladwig stressed this was just the first of three chances the commission would have to review the project. If the PZC approves the new zone, Lattizori would have to come back to the commission for approval of a master plan and site plan for the project. Both applications would require hearings and approvals from the commission. Lattizori's proposed zone could only be located on this property.

Little of Tuesday's discussion was about the actual details of the proposed text amendment that would restrict the maximum square footage of commercial buildings to 195,000 while the footprint of the largest building cannot exceed 35,000 square feet. There are also numerous requirements involving buffers, design, landscaping, construction materials and colors.

Among the allowed uses in the new zone are offices, financial institutions, congregate living facilities, convalescent homes, elderly housing, retail shops, health clubs, restaurants without drive thru windows, motels and hotels with no more than 150 rooms and medical clinics.

j.wojtas@theday.com