Master plan is next step for Perkins Farm project
Mystic — With the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approving a floating zone for the Perkins Farm property last week, developer David Lattizori said Sunday he now expects to submit a proposed master plan for a $60 million project on the site later this fall.
He said the master plan will be much like the project he has already described during public hearings for the Greenway Development District — a medical, research and residential campus on 70 acres of the farm property off Jerry Browne Road.
If built as envisioned, it would be the most expensive project in the town’s history, he said.
The commission will also have to hold a public hearing on the master plan application. If the master plan is approved, Lattizori will need to obtain site plan approval from the commission.
“We are incredibly pleased by the commission’s unanimous vote of approval and are excited about the opportunity to discuss making this project a reality,” Lattizori said after the commission’s approval of the floating zone.
He added that the development is the result of a year's worth of community outreach and that the development was enhanced "by using smart growth principles, which allow for a majority of the property to be preserved as open space."
During the public hearing on the text amendment, the application was met with widespread support from Stone Ridge residents, town officials and business owners, a contrast with the opposition that previous commercial proposals for the site faced.
Lattizori has said the project would become the town’s biggest taxpayer, generating $1 million a year in tax revenue as well as 360 jobs, as opposed to the 36-lot subdivision that was approved for the site and would have created no net increase in tax revenue or jobs. It also may bring natural gas service to town.
The plan would cluster development along Interstate 95 that could not be seen from Jerry Browne Road. It would leave intact the wooded area and meadow that front Jerry Browne Road from Coogan Boulevard to Pequotsepos Road.
The new zone requires the preservation of at least 50 percent of the site as open space and allow a mix of uses on at least 50 acres of land in four separate zones.
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