Massive Simsbury Development Project All But Dead

SIMSBURY, CT — A controversial housing/commercial development project at a long-abandoned corporate campus was all but shot down by the Simsbury Zoning Commission Monday night.

But not quite.

The town's top land-use board voted 4-2 to have town staff and legal counsel draft a motion to deny an application for a massive development at the former Hartford Insurance Co. site.

A lengthy public hearing on the project was finally closed, but zoning board members stopped short of officially shooting the proposal down.

That appears inevitable, however, when the commission next meets later in the month.

"I really sense there aren't going to be four votes on this proposal," said zoning board Chairman Bruce Elliot.

The zoning commission has six voting members, so a minimum 4-2 vote is needed to pass any resolution.

Simsbury Zoning Commission member Tucker Salls suggested the board be prepared to vote on a motion to approve as well, opting to amend the motion to include that stipulation.

"I think we should have a motion for denial and approval for next time," Salls said. "So we would have two draft motions in front of us and we can pick one. That would be the purpose."

But no action was taken to amend the motion per Salls' request and the final, 4-2 vote all but indicates imminent denial.

The project calls for SL Simsbury LLC — with Holden Sabato listed as the applicant — to build a large development at 140 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury.

Those plans call for 518 housing units and a mix of commercial/retail/office development —a scaled-back proposal that, initially, called for only 580 units of housing.

Sabato is the director at The Silverman Group, a family-owned real estate developer based in New Jersey that is behind the project.

The site was formerly the location of The Hartford Insurance Co., which closed the Simsbury complex more than a decade ago.

The hearing opened on Dec. 18, 2023, and featured various representatives of the developers presenting their roles in the project.

That hearing was extended multiple times through January and into February.

During the hearing, many residents expressed concern about the impacts such a project could have on the community, concerns ranging from traffic worries to aesthetics to the impact on local schools with as many people moving into town.

But there was also some support expressed.

Tuesday's final leg of the hearing featured similar concerns along with a representative of the applicant who, at one point, demanded to know if the application conformed to the zoning regulations.

Zoning members didn't answer the question, but did close the hearing, agreeing to take up the matter at the zoning board's next meeting on Feb. 21, when it likely will shoot the project down.

"We will, hopefully, come to a conclusion that night," Elliot said.

From Jan. 24: 'Massive Housing/Commercial Development Pitched In Simsbury'