Huge Development Project Dead In Simsbury

SIMSBURY, CT — As expected, the town's zoning board has shot down a controversial housing/commercial development at the long-abandoned Hartford Insurance Co. campus.

With a 5-1 vote on Feb. 21, the Simsbury Zoning Commission denied an application from SL Simsbury LLC — with Holden Sabato listed as the applicant — to build a large development at 140 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury.

The plan called for 518 housing units and a mix of commercial/retail/office development —a scaled-back proposal that initially called for solely 580 housing units.

Sabato is the director at The Silverman Group, a family-owned real estate developer based in New Jersey that was 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, 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 by those citing a need to increase housing in town, which is seen as a statewide issue.

Zoning board members on Feb. 5 all but rejected the application when it voted to have town staff and legal counsel draft a motion to deny the application.

That legal document was unveiled last week when the zoning board shot down the application.

Among the reasons cited were:

• The proposal failed to achieve the purpose and intent of a mixed-use, vibrant community.

• The proposal failed to provide an appropriate building scale and transitions to fit the adjoining design context, namely what the town sees as the best use of that site.

The commission said the proposal still had too many residential components.

• The proposal does not provide a minimum or appropriate level of public benefits such as useable civic and open spaces, economic development, or employment opportunities.

• The project represents unknown impacts on the public health, safety, and welfare of the general public.

Commission attorneys helped the board draft responses and reasons for the denial, which were also made clear via public documents.

The lone dissenter on the commission was Tucker Salls, a Democrat, who at the prior meeting proposed the town also draft a motion to approve the application, which was denied.

On Feb. 21, he said while most of the public testimony opposed the application, the applicant did change the project to include less housing and some non-housing components.

Salls said the state is in a housing crisis and such a proposal would help people find good housing in Simsbury.

"The developer, when we gave the feedback, reduced the number of units of the project, increased the deed-restricted affordability from 10 percent to 15 percent. They added in commercial developments, which in this market, they probably would be operating almost at a loss," Salls said. "I'll remind the commission that we are in a housing crisis."

"I think they've worked very, very hard to make this project compliant," Salls said of the applicant.

Others opposed the project as submitted.

"Thank you for your thoughts, Tucker. I don't agree," said Democratic council member Shannon Leary, echoing similar concerns raised by the public and fellow members.

Simsbury Zoning Commission Vice Chairman Tony Braz, also a Democrat, said he didn't believe the changes went far enough in response to the opposition.

Braz said the development is too large for Simsbury, adding he was hoping for an even more scaled-back proposal.

"I think the developer did make a significant move from the initial application to the revised application," Braz said. "And my hope was that there would be a further revision."

He said the developer, at the last meeting, asked for a zoning board decision, leaving the current proposal before the town.

"I can't support the current project at its current site," Braz said.

Said Simsbury Zoning Commission Chairman Bruce Elliot, a Democrat, "We have a round project trying to be fit into a squared space. It doesn't work."

As a result, the property will remain vacant with town leaders trying to find other developers or, perhaps, another development pitched by the prior applicant.

For the Feb. 21 Simsbury Zoning Commission meeting minutes, click on this link.

From Feb. 6: 'Massive Simsbury Development Project All But Dead'