FARMINGTON — More than four years ago, Farmington approved Midpoint: 199 housing units and about 53,000 square feet of commercial space on Farmington Avenue. Nothing has been built. The two men whose companies won the approval have both died.
Now the two companies that own the land disagree about whether to keep the approval alive. The Launch at Farmington LLC, which owns the 19 wooded acres in the middle, asked the Town Plan and Zoning Commission on Oct. 26 for five more years. Superheroes Properties LLC, which owns the other three parcels, including the buildings along the road, objected.
At stake for the public is a link in the canal trail that the developers promised along the river. If the project falls through, The Launch's attorney said, "one would assume" the link "is not easily going to come to pass."
The site plan approval, the commission's sign-off on exactly what gets built where, runs out March 7, 2027. The commission voted unanimously to take the request up again Monday, Dec. 7. The town's land-use attorney is writing a legal opinion and has asked that attorney for more documents, and she could not attend the Nov. 9 meeting.
'Then we won't build it'
The delay, said Robin Messier Pearson, the Glastonbury attorney for The Launch, came from the pandemic and then from loss: the principals of the two companies that won the approvals both died, and settling their estates took years. The Launch bought its parcel in 2023, she said, and Superheroes bought the other three in 2024. Asked what had been done on the site since 2023, Pearson said, "Nothing." Town Planner Shannon Rutherford added that the original landowner, Jeff Scott, had done "very limited land clearing on the hillside" in April and May 2023, and died that June.
Under state law, she said, a site plan approval can be extended to as long as 10 years in all, and unless the plan or the rules have changed, an extension "should be granted." Her client's right to ask, she said, comes from easements and agreements in the town's land records: shared driveways, shared basins that hold storm runoff, utilities and the trail. "This is really step one, maintain the status quo," she said.
Commissioner Josh Davidson did not buy it. "I don't support this renewal," he said, calling Midpoint "one of the largest developments in town." A company that owns one of the four parcels has no standing, or legal right, to ask, he argued, and it could not build the parts of the plan on land it does not own. He noted that The Launch's team had gone to the town's design review committee in March to talk about changing the plan. To ask for an extension because nothing has changed, then come back for changes, is "dishonest, in my view," he said.
"I do not accept that we have been disingenuous in any way," Pearson said. Without significant changes, Davidson said, her client could not build the plan as shown. "Then we won't build it," Pearson said. "If you're right, we won't. But you're not right."
"As horrible as it is," she said at one point, "do you realize that this whole thing got turned upside down because two people died?" Davidson said he was "very sympathetic to the families."
Chair Liz Sanford said the commission was "getting caught up in minutiae and things that are outside of our jurisdiction." Whether an applicant has standing, Davidson answered, is "100% within our jurisdiction." Sanford later apologized and told him he had made valid points.
Enamul Hoque of Superheroes Properties, calling in by Zoom, said the company had sent its objection and hoped to send more in writing. "We're not in agreement at this time," he said.
Even if the site plan lapses, Pearson said, the zone change and the master plan, the broader blueprint for the site, do not expire, so anything built there later would still have to fit them.
Also at the meeting
- A cul-de-sac says no. Neighbors from seven houses on West Gate Road objected to a home snack business at the end of their street, where Naveena Gulappa, who holds a state cottage food license, wanted customers to pick up online orders of Indian sweets and snacks. She withdrew and will deliver instead, which needs no approval from the commission. "Business can come and go, but having the relationship with our neighbors is very, very important for us," her husband said.
- Two home bakers approved. Tracey Tribuzio of 5 Whispering Rod Road will sell sourdough bread and cookies by preorder from a locking cooler outside her house; she said she has a bear problem. Shannon Sprowles of 16 Wells Drive, a neonatal intensive care nurse, will sell sourdough, bagels and cinnamon rolls, with pickups no more than five times a month and three hours a week. "When she comes home after what could be 12 hours of hell, she bakes," her mother told the commission. Both passed unanimously.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's zoning commission long enough to know a site plan can outlive the people who won it. Third coffee; Dec. 7 is circled. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers Farmington from the records up: the four-hour zoning meeting, the cul-de-sac that came to Town Hall, the police log you'd never find unless someone typed it up. We publish slowly, deliberately and without apology. Our motto is "Always last to breaking news," and we stand behind it. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. 📰