The West Hartford Town Council plans to conclude the public hearing and vote on an application by Vessel Technologies at a special meeting on Thursday, March 20.

By Ronni Newton

A public hearing on an application by Vessel Technologies was continued again after a brief discussion on Tuesday night, and is now scheduled to conclude on Thursday, March 20, beginning at 6 p.m., with a special Town Council meeting scheduled for 6:15 p.m. in order to vote on the proposed project.

The public hearing began on Tuesday, Feb. 25, when the West Hartford Town Council spent nearly four hours listening to the developer’s presentation and public comment on an application by Vessel Technologies to rezone the 2.33-acre parcel at 29 Highland Street and create a Special Development District overlay to allow for the redevelopment of what was then a proposal for 112 units of multifamily housing.

The hearing was paused and continued until 6:45 p.m. on March 11 “for the limited purpose of presenting an updated plan set to reflect reconfiguration of several units,” after which the Council had intended to vote on the project.

The reconfiguration – which affects the interior design only – was prompted by a request, made by Democratic Town Council member Tiffani McGinnis on Feb. 25, to provide another two-bedroom unit that would qualify as affordable housing. In order to do that, two of the one-bedroom units need to be combined and that change must be reflected on the plans submitted to the Town Council.

The proposal discussed on Feb. 25 was for 112 units in two identical four-story buildings, but the revised plans include four more two-bedroom units, and a total of 108 units. Of those, 33 – 30 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units – will be deed-restricted as affordable.

Town Planner Todd Dumais noted that the only changes to the application were in the combining of eight one-bedroom units into four two-bedroom units, changing the total number of units in the proposed development from 112 to 108.

There was no change to the exterior, nor was there a proposed change to the number of proposed parking spaces, which will remain at 123. A total of 113 spaces are required by town statute based on the number of bedrooms in the development.

The affordability plan did change, Dumais noted, with a reduction in the number of deed-restricted affordable units from 34 to 33, which is 30% of the revised overall number of units.

Vessel’s application indicates plans to replace the existing Hughes Health & Rehabilitation buildings on the site with multifamily housing been submitted under Connecticut General Statutes Section 8-30g, which requires that 30% of the units must be affordable – and at least 15% of those must be affordable for those with an income of 60% or less than the area median income (AMI).

The remainder of the units will be market rate, but Vessel Executive Vice President Josh Levy previously noted that they will fall into the “attainable” rather than the “affordable” category. “We would expect that looking at the other newly-constructed buildings [in West Hartford], we would come in significantly below,” he said at the Feb. 25 hearing.

At the March 20 public hearing, comments regarding the updates to the plans can be heard before the hearing is concluded.

Mayor Shari Cantor asked Vessel for their consent – which was granted – for the continuation of the public hearing for the purpose of gathering additional information due to the unique nature of the construction of the proposed Vessel development.

“This Town Council has consistently supported multifamily high-density developments, and has been a strong advocate for affordable housing, actually housing at all price points, including affordable housing,” Cantor said Tuesday. She said a strong recommendation for including affordable units is made in discussion with each developer.

“Every development we have [recently] approved has an element of affordable housing,” said Cantor. “We have increased our affordable housing fairly substantially over the last year-and-a-half or so, almost two years, and we are on our way to reaching a goal of 10%, and maybe beyond.”

The reason for the continuation of the hearing, she said, was because “this project presents a unique construction approach, something the Council has not seen before.” The units are modular and prefabricated, then assembled onsite, with metal staircases, hallways, and common areas that are partially open to the air and exposed to the elements.

“Given the distinct nature of the design, I believe it will be beneficial for our staff to have some additional time to thoroughly review and publicly comment on the project,” Cantor said. “This would also provide the applicant with the opportunity to address challenges and concerns related to this type of construction.”

More information and history about the Vessel proposal can be found here.

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