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Public Asked for Input Ahead of Old Morgan Redevelopment Vote

Residents of Clinton will get a chance to make their voices heard about the newly unveiled Indian River Landing project at the old Morgan School during a public hearing in Town Hall at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

The public hearing will be followed one week later by a vote at a town meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. The public hearing and town meeting are the first two steps of the project’s approval process. The Board of Finance and Planning & Zoning Commission must also approve the project.

The Board of Selectmen (BOS) announced the Indian River Landing Project at a Nov. 7 board meeting at which it unanimously voted to approve the sale of the old Morgan School property to the developer Greylock Property Group for $2.2 million. If the proposal is successful, the land will be turned into Indian River Landing, a mixed-use development consisting of retail, restaurants, a large-scale grocery or retail store, and townhomes. The project is estimated to take about five years to complete.

In February 2015, close to 400 people came to a town meeting to cast a vote on the sale of the property to Mill Pond, LLC, for $2.8 million. The town approved the sale by a vote of 247 to 163. Mill Pond, LLC, had also planned to turn the property into a mixed-use development. The project was supposed to break ground in late 2016; instead developer Henry Resnikoff terminated the agreement with the town in August 2017 citing issues with financing and a permit application from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

The announcement of the latest project is the culmination of a nearly year-long process for the Board of Selectmen. In April, the town decided to conduct a new appraisal on the site to ensure the town would get a fair price for the property.

At the time, First Selectman Christine Goupil said that the town had interest from several developers in the site, but issues such as the lack of a sewer system and the cost of demolition and cleanup were complicating the town determining a fair price for the property.

Goupil said that in this latest round, the board considered four different developers for the site, and in particular sought proposals that met the zoning regulations for the property, and ones the selectmen felt had solid financial backing.