FARMINGTON — In 2015, Farmington approved roughly 260 to 270 apartments for the polluted lot beside Union School in Unionville. The town has kept that approval alive ever since, and the ground is still polluted. Now a new company wants to build there, with fewer apartments.
The company, Belfonti, has shown town planners drawings for roughly 220 to 230 apartments, Town Planner Shannon Rutherford told the zoning commission in September. Its first public look is Thursday, Nov. 19, before the town's design committee.
The ground at 19 Perry Street is contaminated, and it will not be cleaned up without a development there, Assistant Town Planner Garrett Daigle said Nov. 5.
Daigle told the Unionville Historic District and Properties Commission that the new company is "going to be changing the development plans." The 2015 approval still stands, he said, but the changes send the project back through the town's approvals, "almost like starting over."
What is in the ground
Members described the lot as a former felt factory. One said that, as the member understood it, most of the pollution came from insecticides used to get the bugs out of the material for the felt. A member also mentioned dyes. The site is not on the Superfund list, the federal roster of the country's worst polluted places, and was not eligible for any federal or state grant, a member said.
What gets built decides what happens to the dirt, a member said. A shopping center would not have to remove anything, the member said, but homes do: "they do have to either remove stuff or cover it up." That is why the 2015 plan was so big, the member said. "A very large parking lot covers up a lot of dirt."
Another member pointed out that the lot is right next to the school. Daigle said the work comes with conditions, including when it can be done. The lot is also very close to a local water association's wells, which are tested regularly and are not contaminated, a member said. Daigle said there are carbon filters on site.
Traffic
The 2015 plan had problems, a member said: "There's a huge problem that they ignored about traffic." Because the development is on School Street, it "puts a lot of traffic into" Unionville center, a member said. Cars coming out of School Street have the right of way there, the member said. Today that is one or two cars at a time.
What happens next
The Nov. 19 session is an informal look at design and materials. Anyone can listen, in person or online, but the public will not get to speak. The project then goes to the zoning commission, which Rutherford said in September would most likely mean a new application with new hearings, and possibly to the wetlands commission, because there are wetlands at the back of the lot.
The 2015 approval is good until 2029, Rutherford said she believed, with a possible five-year extension to 2034.
"Can we go and complain?" the member presiding over the historic commission asked. Not on Nov. 19. But the commission commented on the project before, the presiding member said, and can again, in writing, on whether the design is appropriate "from a historical point of view."
Also at the meeting
- A spring walking tour. Commission Secretary Barbara Marsh has drafted a walking tour of Unionville center, "Unionville: An American Story," and would like to hold it in April or May. The commission had talked in May about a fall tour.
- The stone church at 100. The new sign on the old stone church on School Street, approved by the commission in August, is up. A celebration service for the building's 100th year is planned there this month, a member said.
- The town survey. About 670 people had answered the town survey for the Plan of Conservation and Development, the 10-year guide to how Farmington grows, at the last count, Daigle said. It closes Friday, Nov. 20. An open house is Tuesday, Dec. 1, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Senior Center.
- Two new alternates. John Vibert and Lorey Cavanaugh joined the commission after the Town Council appointed them Oct. 13.
- Next meeting. Thursday, Dec. 3. The commission adopted its 2027 schedule, first Thursdays.
The Farmington Mercury's government coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. A walking tour reads a town's history off its buildings. Farmington Storage keeps the rest of it indoors. 860.777.4001.
Jack Beckett has reported on Unionville long enough to know that an apartment plan approved in 2015 can still be on the table in 2026. He is on his second coffee and has stopped asking what year it is. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers Farmington from the records up: the polluted lot that keeps coming back, the historic commission's walking tour, the zoning meeting that ran until 10 p.m., the police log that is public record but that you'd never find unless someone typed it up. We publish slowly and without apology. Our motto is "Always last to breaking news," and by the time you read this the facts are checked. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. 📰