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01/13/2023 10:04 AMThe parish center at St. Joseph's Catholic Church is destined for a new life if a proposal for affordable housing units is approved by the town's planning and zoning commission.
The St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish in Essex announced plans to sell the parcel of land at 47 Middlesex Turnpike, opposite St. Joseph's Catholic Church, on Dec. 27. In its announcement, the Parish said that it had worked with First Selectman Charlene Janecek and the town's zoning office to find an appropriate buyer for the property.
The buyers, Honeycomb Real Estate Partners, LLC and Vesta Corporation, reached an agreement with the Parish to purchase 3.03 acres of land following an acquisition submission and interview process. According to the announcement, the buyers, both Connecticut-based housing developers, intend to turn the property into affordable housing units. A public information session is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at Town Hall, 203 Middlesex Avenue.
The property had been owned by the parish for 68 years, and the Diocese of Norwich has approved the sale. According to Rev. Arul Rajan Peter of St. Teresa, the sale of the land was a financial decision
“The sale was part of our parish family’s decision to reduce our expenses and liabilities,” he said.
According to Zoning Compliance Officer John Guszkowski, the parish did a “free split” in 2022 to reserve the church parking lot at the front of the property nearest Middlesex Turnpike. The church will retain approximately one acre of the property for continued use. The parish center, however, would be slated for removal.
“The developers will be removing the former Parish Center/fellowship hall and putting the multifamily development on that portion of the property,” Guszkowski explained. “The housing will be rearward of that parking area.”
Janecek said Honeycomb's selection as the development group was largely due to their attentiveness to the units’ fitness for a small, New England family-oriented town like Chester.
“They have been in town; they know what the town looked like,” said Janecek. “They knew there was a playground; they knew there were bus stops. They knew that a brick building was never going to go in town.”
The buildings will consist of several two-story Colonial-style buildings in a village green area that will “look like it had always been there,” Janecek said.
“[Honeycomb] literally did their homework. They knew what Chester looked like, and what they had to put in Chester to look like Chester.”
The property will have a shared drive connecting its tenants to Middlesex Turnpike, upon which Janecek has requested Honeycomb to perform natural screening. The property’s adjacent position and access to Middlesex Turnpike offer multiple benefits to potential occupants, according to Guszkowski.
“It’s on an existing state highway which has a higher capacity which can support additional development and trip generation,” said Guszkowski. “The other major advantage is it is a parcel of some size with public water and sewer available to it which is enormous and rare in this portion of the state.”
Guszkow said that while the private transaction status of the project does not specifically put the town in compliance with Section 8-30j of the Connecticut General Statutes, those infrastructural benefits for occupants, including water and sewer access, will go to satisfy some of the overall goals of the project “to create affordable and multifamily housing areas served by public sewer and water infrastructure,” which are within the broader mission of the town’s Affordable Housing Plan.
The development is meant to include approximately 40 residential apartments and has been described as an "affordable housing community," but Janecek noted that the affordability of the units is not eligible for state subsidies, including those under the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program.
According to Guszkowski, the apartments in the proposed development are intended for occupants whose incomes are equal to or fall below 80 percent of the state median income which is $80,000. The lower number between the state and area median income is selected when deeming units as affordable, as is the case with the state average, compared to Chester’s area median income of $88,000.
Guszkowski said the development project could assuage several intertwining housing and population-related issues facing the town. As explained in the town’s Affordable Housing Plan, the town is seeing both an aging population and a limited number of younger residents between the ages of 18 to 25, while many of that particular demographic have left and not returned to town. The current housing stock is also financially unattainable for many younger people, due to a combination of factors including minimal housing turnover and fewer construction projects. Much of the town's housing inventory is considered older family-style four-bedroom homes with values averaging more than $350,000, according to Guszkowski.
Janecek expressed hope that the project and its affordable apartments could offer young professionals a place to live in Chester.
“I’m hoping that it’s going to allow young people who are graduating from college and would love to come back to their hometown, to be able to do that,” she said. “I think that the younger generation aren’t looking to be homeowners. This is the kind of housing they want: a nice apartment that’s well-maintained on a property that’s well-maintained.”
The income-housing affordability is not limited to younger people, as Guszkowski pointed out that 60 percent of local households include younger couples, seniors on fixed incomes, and “empty nesters” looking to downsize. The current housing stock cannot support those demographics., Guszkowski said.
“It’s a huge mismatch,” said Guszkowski. “You’ve got people looking to get into Chester as young households, retirees, and empty nesters looking to stay in Chester, but downsize, and there aren’t options for those folks. If we’re not building new houses, the only way we can make the larger houses available is if we have some for the down-sizers to go.”
If plans for the development are approved, Janecek said is confident the project will provide housing opportunities and help fulfill the mission of the town’s state-required Housing Plan.
“I’ve given it my blessing because I think it’s an ideal use of this property, and it fills [the] requirement that we have affordable housing,” said Janecek. “It’s got to go somewhere in town.”
Town officials anticipate construction will begin later this year with a one-and-a-half-year development period. Units are expected to be available for sale in 2025.