At a Zoning Commission meeting on Jan. 22, the owner of Westbrook Outlets laid out a vision for a potential redesign of the property featuring close to 600 apartments and townhomes as well as retail and restaurant space. No formal application has been filed yet at press time, but the developers expect to file one soon.

In a pre-application meeting on Jan. 22, attorney Ed Cassella, representing T Westbrook Center, LLC, the owners of the property the Westbrook Outlets are built on, and two representatives of the Harford-based development company Lexington Partners, LLC, made a presentation to the Westbrook Zoning Commission about a potential major development in town.

According to the presentation, the potential development, dubbed Westbrook Commons, would feature a mix of residential, commercial, townhomes, amenity space, and potentially a hotel and amphitheater built over two phases.

The proposal calls for 30 studio apartments, 209 one-bedrooms, 306 two-bedrooms, and 50 three-bedrooms, for a total of 595 units. Patrick Kenny, the vice president of Lexington Partners, said the hotel and amphitheater are not central to the project and may not be included in the final proposal.

Cassella said that T Westbrook Center had purchased the property in 2017 and first talked with the town about this project about a year ago. Since then, Kenny said the developers have been doing their due diligence on the property to see if the redesign was feasible.

During the presentation, Cassella stressed that he was speaking informally with the commission and that no application had been filed yet.

Part of the reason for the pre-application meeting was so that the Zoning Commission members could weigh in with any comments or concerns before an actual application was filed.

Zoning Commission Chairman Henry Ruppenicker asked the developers to consider the impacts on town services as well as infrastructure and beach parking, given the potential influx of people. The developers estimated the project could add 1,300 people to Westbrook.

Other commissioners asked about the effect the project would have on town traffic. Cassella said there is a hope to get state approval to rework Exit 66 on I-95 and create a frontage road that would allow cars to access and exit the property from other locations, though Cassella added that is only a proposal and not a definite plan at this stage.

In response to a question about retail space, Cassella said the project would feature about 75,000 square feet of retail space, which he said is less than what is currently on the property. The movie theater would likely not be retained.

If the applications for the project are formally filed, it’s likely that multiple public hearings over the project will be held. Ruppenicker asked the applicants to consider making a public presentation even before the application is filed so that the public at large could see and ask questions about the project.

The developers were on board with the suggestions.

“We’re definitely interested in meeting with the public,” said Kenny.

Cassella laid out the numerous next steps that will need to be followed to bring the proposal to life.

The first application filed will be to change the text of the zoning regulations so that some of the proposed features would be allowed on the property. The developers would also need to go before the town’s Inland Wetlands Commission and discuss any impacts to the wetlands near the property.

Cassella said the developers would need to file a special exemption application with the Zoning Commission, too, and that the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection would need to weigh in on the project as well to review the septic plan.