Empty for more than three years, the former home of the School Sisters of Notre Dame Atlantic-Midwest Province on Belden Hill Rd. has been reimagined with a new plan for a senior-housing development.
On Monday, May 12, the Planning and Zoning Commission has scheduled a pre-application review on a proposal for the combined three-parcel, 38.17-acre property at 329, 331 and 345 Belden Hill Rd. that includes a request for a zoning amendment that would allow the new business to operate in a residential district currently zoned as R2-A Single Family.
Most recently, the property functioned as a single site with multiple buildings and related infrastructure. It was used by the School Sisters of Notre Dame primarily as a retirement community for the organization’s members as well as assembly and office space. It was also previously used as a 40-bed skilled nursing care facility that closed in 2019.
Hines Acquisitions, LLC, which is currently contracted to purchase the property, intends to remove “most” of the existing buildings in order to construct approximately 280 units of senior housing, including 13 “independent living cottages,” 172 independent living apartments, 48 assisted living units, and 24 “memory care studios.”
There are 194 parking spaces currently planned beneath “active floor area” in the main building and cottages, along with an additional 48 proposed surface parking spaces.
Total square footage for the project is 383,747 square feet, which includes 273,002 of leasable space. Structured parking is an additional 62,124-square feet.
The existing chapel will remain on the property and become a common-use space.
The main structure would reach a height of 52 feet, or 3.5 stories, several feet higher than the existing chapel.
“To minimize environmental disturbance, the new proposal will be restricted to the eastern portion of the site and existing setbacks will be maintained,” according to the project narrative submitted by Lisa Feinberg, an attorney with Stamford-based Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey, LLP.
“The western portion of the Property includes existing woodland as well as regulated areas,” she wrote.
Feinberg notes that while the R-2A zoning district permit “congregate housing,” “nursing home,” and “assisted living” on “certain properties, none of these uses are currently permitted on this property.
“As part of the proposal, Hines intends to submit an application to amend the Wilton Zoning Regulations to permit the full continuum of senior housing on the Property,” the project narrative states.
SSND built the original facility in the early 1960s, where it housed retired and semi-retired nuns. The 58 women living there were relocated to The Watermark, a continuing care retirement community, in Bridgeport after the facility permanently closed in 2021.
Really? When is enough enough? When will there be some creative thinking and development in town. Does Wilton really need more senior housing / assisted living / nursing facilities and memory units? How close to capacity are the facilities operating at that are already in town? How is that likely to grow over time?
Developers and some in town would say it’s a no brainer, when the demand diminishes and disappears, the conversion to some other type of housing won’t be that difficult (20 years downstream?). The healthcare facility will turn to private residences or perhaps some type of business campus.
There is a false belief that the current anticipated development of 908 rental units in Wilton will make a true difference in “affordable” housing or keeping empty nesters in town while selling their homes of decades to new residents is not the likely reality. These folks, can they afford to sell because it’s so expensive to buy locally will likely seek other geographical choices. And how many units will folks working at ASML and a few other relatively local companies will be rented in the new Wilton developments.
And how many folks will relocate to Wilton for the first time and rent ??
Questions driving more questions!