Southington PZC Tables Rezone Plan For Project At Old College Campus

SOUTHINGTON, CT — The developers of a former college site in Southington have a bit more time to make their case to the local zoning board after their application was tabled last week.

New Haven-based PGX Holdings LLC has applied to the Southington Planning and Zoning Commission to seek a zone change that would allow the old Briarwood/Lincoln College campus at 2279 Mount Vernon Road to become a housing development for those aged 55 and over.

In order for such a development to happen, the zoning for the property needs to be adjusted from residential zoning to what is called "ARCHZ" — an acronym for "age-restricted cluster housing zone."

The 32.75-acre campus in Southington, once home to Briarwood College, then the Lincoln College of New England, now sits empty. Lincoln shut down in 2018 and the campus has been vacant since.

At the March 4 PZC meeting, the commission extended a public hearing on the application to Tuesday, March 18.

At that meeting, Southington PZC Chairman Robert Hammersley said PGX requested more time to fine-tune its application per the request of the commission.

"They were asked to provide some additional information and they want some additional time to present that additional information to us," said Southington PZ C Chairman Robert Hammersley.

As a result, the PZC on March 18 unanimously voted to table the application, with the proposal expected to be on the Tuesday, April 1, agenda next week.

The PZC meets at 7 p.m. that day at the John Weichsel Municipal Center, 196 N. Main St.

At that meeting, the public hearing will continue and, once closed, a PZC vote could take place on the zone change.

If a zone change is granted, the applicants would have to come back to the PZC for a site plan review/approval.

PGX also will have to go before the Southington Zoning Board of Appeals to get a variance that will allow for part of the facility to be used as rented space.

On March 4, representatives of PGX went before Southington's zoning board during a public hearing on the zone change request, which was met with some concern from residents.

No one spoke in favor of the plan that night, with those concerned expressing worry about the development not fitting in with the area's character and concerned about traffic/population density issues.

For the minutes of the March 18 Southington PZC meeting, click on this link.

From March 13: 'Large Housing Complex Pitched For Old College Site In Southington'