Town to ask for zoning change at former Groton Heights School
Groton — A developer has expressed interest in the former Groton Heights School, and town planners said they will apply for a zoning change that would allow multi-family housing at the site.
Jonathan Reiner, director of planning, told the Town Council recently that he has been working with city officials to look at zoning at the site, as the city controls zoning of the property.
City Mayor Marian Galbraith said in an email Wednesday that various representatives from the town planning department have met with the city planner to talk about possible zoning changes. The area currently is zoned for single-family housing.
She said Town Manager Mark Oefinger told her a developer might be interested in the property, but she hasn’t seen a proposal or a proposed zoning amendment, “so it would be premature for me to take a position.”
“I believe as part of the process to make a zoning amendment, there would be a public hearing and I would want to know how the neighborhood felt about any proposed change,” Galbraith wrote. “Ultimately the decision would rest with the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
The town is trying to market excess town-owned properties, and the school is near the top of the list, said Paige Bronk, Groton’s manager of economic and community development.
The three-story school on Monument Street is in the heart of a close-knit residential community, with the 128-year-old Bill Memorial Library, and the older Groton Heights Baptist Church in the same neighborhood. The school also shares a block with the Revolutionary War battle site that is Fort Griswold State Park and the Groton Monument.
In 2012, a task force charged with recommending a new use for the school said an educational facility would be the most desirable one. Recreation was the second choice for the property, and using the school for condominiums ranked third.
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