CHESTER

On Aug. 8, the Chester Planning and Zoning (PZC) adopted a text amendment to permit the adaptive reuse of buildings for multifamily housing, partly supporting the town’s state-mandated Affordable Housing Plan.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Zoe Chatfield said the amendment “is really important for bringing residential use to residential zones, where previously it would not be possible,” including to existing structures, where “non-residential uses wouldn't really make as much sense in the buildings themselves.”

Such adaptation is aligned with the town’s Affordable Housing Plan and Plan of Conservation of Development (POCD). Respectively, the two plans prescribe for Chester to “allow conversion of underused office/commercial space to multifamily residential units” and “increase regulatory flexibility to enable a range of housing opportunities.”

“The adaptive reuse approach is a really good step in enabling more housing opportunities in a way that also retains the current landscape that we have,” Chatfield told the Valley Courier.

A significant example concerns the property at 33 Liberty Street, which is currently owned by Michael and Amanda Tevis. According to the PZC’s April 11 meeting minutes, the owners are looking to renovate the former factory building into an “art facility” which would be allowed in a residential zone by a special permit.

The minutes read that the owners “noted that they would be housing one resident artist in an apartment in the short term, and seeking to add multiple live/work studios in the future.”

According to Chatfield, “under current zoning, art facilities are allowed” as dwelling units and, even if approval of residential units at 33 Liberty street was not given by the PZC, the owners would remain permitted to renovate the building into a better-looking and functioning structure.

Chatfield said “there were several community members that came out to speak in favor of the amendment, specific to what it will allow for that site in particular” during a public hearing which was heard on the recently adopted amendment.

An application on 33 Liberty Street will likely be received by the PZC at a meeting next month, said Chatfield.

Chatfield wanted to make it clear to the Valley Courier that the approval of the amendment “was not just because of this one developer or development,” stating, rather, “it's a really good example why the amendment is useful” for expanding housing opportunities in Chester.

Other examples of adaptive reuse could include the renovation of a mixed-use property with commercial and residential units into a completely residential building with multiple apartments.

In this scenario, the amendment would offer clarity to the PZC for knowing how many apartments would be allowed in that former mixed-use building—something which the language on commercial properties does not specify, said Chatfield.

Chatfield said one of the benefits of amendment’s permission for adaptive use of already existing properties in Chester is that a sense of familiarity with the property is already established with the PZC if a developer wishes to renovate its use.

This way, there are less unknown concerns regarding traffic flow, impacts to public health and safety, light, or noise pollution. These and other factors would still be considered at public hearings required for any applications for adaptive use of existing properties, including at 33 Liberty Street.

The amendment also allows for a wider conversation to be had during a public hearing regarding the redesigning of a structure. Whereas public testimony is normally limited to comments on public health and safety under Connecticut State Statute 8-30g, the amendment provides for comments on building design and conditions of approval, said Chatfield.

This is certainly in light of what public testimony was limited during public hearings over the property at 147 Middlesex Avenue, she said.

“This definitely lays a pathway for addressing those concerns that were expressed, addressing the goals that were laid out, both in the affordable housing plan and the POCD, and in a way that retains more of that kind of sense of familiarity and appreciation that people have for their existing landscape,” said Chatfield.

While not strictly tied to affordable housing, the amendment would still support Chester’s efforts to reach the goal of 10% of its housing stock being deemed affordable, as is mandated by Connecticut State Statute 8-30g. State data provided by Chatfield shows that Chester is currently at 2.18% of its housing stock being deemed affordable.

While Chatfield said the amendment “doesn’t specifically incentivize affordable housing,” she added that “enabling more units in general does still help push that forward” by way of the amendment.

“This is establishing pathways to more housing opportunities to affordable housing if a developer decides to do that path,” she said. “I do think it could be a really positive thing for Chester.”