Mystic — The Stonington Water Pollution Control Authority indicated its willingness Tuesday night to work with a local developer planning a medical, research and residential campus on the Perkins Farm, to resolve a sewer boundary issue that threatens to derail the plan.

The sewer boundary line bisects the 70-acre parcel located along the east side of Jerry Brown Road between Coogan Boulevard and Pequotsepos Road, leaving about 60 percent not served by sewers.

The entire property needs to be sewered for the project to occur and developer David Lattizori is asking the authority to include the entire farm in the sewer district so he can move forward with planning the project.

Lattizori said the outcome of Tuesday’s meeting was promising.

“I think they’re supportive. We just have to work out the technical issues, which I’m confident we can,” he said.

First Selectman Rob Simmons, who also attended the meeting, told the authority that, “this is the best plan I’ve seen for saving the Perkins Farm. It saves half of it.”

The estimated $60 million project would generate an estimated $1.1 million a year in annual tax revenue for the town. It also would create an estimated 350 well-paying permanent jobs, many of them in the medical and research field, as well as 400 construction jobs.

It would become the town’s largest taxpayer by a large margin, paying $500,000 a year more than the Stone Ridge retirement community across the street, according to Lattizori. It also would pay the town $450,000 in sewer connection fees.

In addition, the project would preserve 55 percent of the farm as open space that would be turned over to the Avalonia Land Conservancy and Stonington Land Trust.

Lattizori’s family had made previous unsuccessful efforts to develop the site with a mix of commercial uses that were rejected by the town following opposition from some residents.

The family then received approval for a 36-lot subdivision of single family homes, which Lattizori said would result in an estimated net tax loss of $300,000 a year for the town because of costs it would incur such as education expenses for students who lived there.

He said he was ready to sell the project to a major national homebuilder before he decided to take one last shot at a commercial project after a Stone Ridge resident suggested the idea of a campus of medical and office uses.

Unlike the past unsuccessful plans, the new proposal would not contain any retail uses such a hotels, stores or theaters.

Lattizori said he has spent the past year developing the plan and working to build support for the project by meeting with various groups, including land trusts, Stone Ridge residents, neighbors and the business community.

He said he does not believe that developing 36 homes there would be the best use of the land, as that would preserve only 15 percent of the site for open space and have seven driveways exiting onto Jerry Brown Road.

According to the new plan shown to the authority, the buildings would be clustered along Interstate 95 and large swaths of open space would be along Jerry Brown Road across from Stone Ridge, and buffer neighbors and the Avalonia property that borders the Aquarion Water Co. reservoir.

The main entrance would be across from Coogan Boulevard.

Lattizori said he and his eengineers have developed a plan to release sewage into the system at night when flow is low. That plan would have be reviewed by the authority’s experts.

Lattizori told authority members he does not want to go any further with the project unless he knows he can bring sewers to the entire property.

He said the sewer district boundary line should follow property lines and not cut through parcels. He added that his group has paid $250,000 to extend sewer lines up Jerry Brown Road to Stone Ridge.

Authority members briefly discussed whether it would be preferable to adjust the line or amend its plan to define how properties are included in the district.

Authority Chairman Rich Cody pointed out that a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection planning document he found in his research recommends sewer boundaries be drawn along property lines.

Authority member James Petrosky said it appears the boundary lines, which date to 1967, were not drawn with great care as to how they affect properties.

The new plan also would need Planning and Zoning Commission approval.

j.wojtas@theday.com

Twitter: @joewojtas