Jewish Home Files New Application to Permit Expansion

The Jewish Home for the Elderly has filed a new application to amend town zoning regulations to permit an expansion of the longtime and acclaimed nursing home on Jefferson Street in Fairfield.

The JHE's new application, filed Tuesday in the town's Zoning Department in Sullivan-Independence Hall, would permit, but not require, the Town Plan and Zoning Commission to allow nursing homes to have a greater lot coverage, or footprint, and overall square footage than zoning regulations now allow if the nursing homes are on properties of at least 15 acres, said Austin K. Wolf, the JHE's attorney. The properties would also have to be on land zoned "Residence 3."

"It would not require it. It would give the commission the authority to do it if they wanted to," Wolf said Thursday afternoon.

The Town Plan and Zoning Commission, an elected board of 10 volunteer residents, seven of whom vote, denied the JHE's earlier request to change zoning regulations on July 27. In that application, the JHE wanted nursing homes, homes for the aged and rest homes on land zoned "Residence 3" to be permitted a lot coverage of 20 percent, up from the existing 15 percent, and an overall square footage of 50 percent of a property's size, instead of the existing 30 percent.

The JHE's preliminary development plan, which is not the subject of its new application, calls for the JHE to demolish its three residential pavilions and build nine residences in their place. The number of beds in the JHE would drop from 360 to 320 because the proposed residences would have larger rooms that include a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, shower and outdoor terrace. The new rooms also would be private, instead of including roommates, and would be designed to give senior citizens more dignity and privacy, according to Andrew Banoff, the JHE's president.

The JHE initially had planned to have six residences, but that would have required them to be 60 feet tall, while zoning regulations permit a maximum height of 40 feet. After lowering the height of the proposed buildings, the JHE had to increase their number from six to nine.

After the JHE's earlier application was denied, the JHE took a hard look at building its new facility in Monroe, but that may be off the table if the JHE is able to build it on its existing 15.6-acre property at 175 Jefferson St. in Fairfield.

Joel Z. Green, an attorney who represented residents in the Stratfield Falls condominium complex who were opposed to the earlier application, said Wolf had let him know he was filing a new application, but declined comment until he had seen it. "He is forwarding me a copy of the proposed amendment. I'd like to see it and consult with my client before I comment," Green said.