Orange TPZC Contemplates Mixed Housing

By Brandon T. Bisceglia

A proposal by a developer who wants to revitalize the long-struggling Firelite Plaza in Orange could bring denser housing and more apartments to other parts of town.

Marjorie F. Shansky, the lawyer representing 35 Old Tavern Road LLC, brought the proposal for a text amendment to the Orange Town Plan & Zoning Commission at its July 2 meeting. The amendment would allow the building of residential units in areas currently zoned as local shopping center districts.

There are two areas that fall under the local shopping center district designation. The first is a stretch near the Boston Post Road that includes Firelite. The second is at the center of town.

If the change is adopted, Firelite could become a series of mixed-use buildings with commercial spaces on the ground floor and apartments above.

Shansky stressed while introducing the amendment that allowing apartments in these areas would soften the transition between residential and commercial neighborhoods, and that it furthers the aims of the commission’s own plan of conservation and development.

Indeed, the document, adopted in 2015, does discuss in several places the need for more housing diversity. Orange is dominated right now by single-family houses. At one point, the plan says community conversations revealed that “The time is coming for Orange to consider future housing needs and provide for housing options.”

The plan even shows sections along the Post Road that include where Firelite is located as potential areas to introduce future housing opportunities. It does not list the town center as such an area, though, and it would be covered under the same zoning change.

A map from the 2015 plan of conservation and development shows an area that includes Firelite Plaza as one “which may have the potential to diversify Orange’s housing portfolio.”

“Your plan doesn’t just mention diversifying housing types,” Shansky said. “It says it over and over and over again. It says it in connection with economic development. It says it in connection with residential development.”

Shansky told the commissioners that the amendment to the regulation would only add another use within the existing framework of the zone, making no changes to any of the other rules about things such as building height.

Some of the commissioners were skeptical, though. Chair Oscar Parente, on reading the amendment, wondered why it couldn’t be used to propose a future development that would be entirely residential.

Shansky, however, assured the group that wouldn’t be possible because of the already-in-force definition of residential mixed-use, which requires the commercial component.

Commission member Kevin Cornell took broader issue with the premise that the board had not taken steps to address the housing issues identified in the plan of conservation.

“We’ve been considering multi-family (housing) only where it forwards other goals of the town, either to meet the affordable housing requirement that the state brought down, or taking care of the elderly, aging portion of the population,” he said. “So I don’t particularly see why we now want to expand that and start thinking like we’re something other than Orange – we’re West Haven, we’re East Haven, we’re West Hartford.”

Though the amendment would not preclude affordable or senior housing, it also doesn’t explicitly require either one, opening the possibility that developers could decide to build only market-rate apartments in the zone.

Commissioner Ralph Aschettino pointed out that few young people can move to Orange because it’s dominated by single-family houses that they either don’t want to buy or can’t afford.

“I see a lot of work being done in Fairfield and Shelton where a lot of these apartment buildings are going up with studios and one-bedroom-type communities for the younger population,” he said.

First Selectman Jim Zeoli also weighed in on the issue, calling the plan for Firelite, which would not be formally submitted unless the zone amendment passes, one of the best he’s seen for that location in years.

“It’s important to consider different opportunities for housing,” he said.

The commission ultimately kept the public hearing open so it could approach the fire and police departments to see if they had any general concerns and to seek input from a consultant. The discussion is scheduled to continue at the commission’s Aug. 6 meeting, though it was unclear if a special meeting might be called before then.