Stonington will not hold virtual town meeting on Campbell Grain tax break
Stonington — First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough said Tuesday that the town will not hold a virtual town meeting to approve a tax abatement for the developer of the proposed $32 million apartment building on the former Campbell Grain building site in downtown Pawcatuck.
Instead, she said, it is the town's intention to proceed with an in-person town meeting once it is safe to do so later next year.
The fixed tax assessment would save Winn Development Co. LP of Boston a total of $600,000 in taxes over a 10-year period.
The tax abatement is considered critical to Winn Development’s application for the state tax credits and bonding it needs for the project. But residents have to approve the tax abatement at a town meeting.
One of the key aspects of Winn Development’s attempt to obtain the funding is that it has to show it has a local contribution of $1.6 million. To do that, the Board of Selectmen has voted to apply for $1 million from the state’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant fund to help pay for the project’s infrastructure. That leaves $600,000, which would come from Winn’s savings from the fixed rate assessment.
Chesebrough said town officials discussed the virtual town meeting and its logistics and determined there would be too many obstacles to overcome, such as determining who was eligible to vote online. In addition, she said the town charter allows a paper ballot vote to be held at the meeting and there is no way to do that in a virtual meeting.
She said that if Winn’s application next month is unsuccessful, the company intends to file for another round of funding next year when the town has had an opportunity to approve the tax abatement.
“They are not going to walk away from the project,” she said.
The developer plans to construct an 82-unit apartment building at the end of Coggswell Street. Plans call for a five-story, 116,000-square-foot building with parking under the building and on site, and a riverfront walkway with public access. The almost 2-acre site is bordered by the Amtrak line and has 240 feet of frontage along the Pawcatuck River.
A total of 70% of the units would be considered affordable housing under state law. Town officials say the project would help meet the need for housing for residents of all income levels and play a key role in the revitalization of downtown Pawcatuck.
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