Council OKs Rezone For Massive West Hartford Apartment Project

WEST HARTFORD, CT — The town council Monday night set the stage for the construction of multiple apartment buildings on the former University of Connecticut campus in town.

The West Hartford Town Council voted 8-1 to rezone nearly 15 acres in the northern portion of the Asylum Avenue site to pave the way for the housing units.

Republican Councilwoman Mary Fay was the lone dissenter, with the rest of the council saying "yes" to the rezoning.

It came after a marathon, six-hour public hearing and discussion of the controversial measure at a special West Hartford Town Council meeting at West Hartford Town Hall Monday night.

In West Hartford, rezoning land in town falls under the jurisdiction of the council, which gets a referral from the local zoning commission as to its compliance with the plan of conservation and development.

As a result, the council is changing the zoning from single-family residential to incorporating it into a multi-family/multi-story residential zone.

This, ultimately, allows for the developer of the massive project to build 322 units of housing, a percentage of them deemed "affordable," in four residential buildings, with parking and amenities, as part of the massive development.

It would be built on what was formerly a large parking lot on the old UConn campus.

The developer, "West Hartford 1," purchased the 58-acre site in January 2022 and has filed several applications under the names WEHA Development Group LLC and WEHA Development Group East LLC. The working name for the project is "Oakwood Park."

Facets of the development include multi-family residential housing; boutique-style retail components; restaurants; medical offices; a spa; an organic neighborhood market; public parks; walking areas, trails, and ballfields; and a structured parking component.

One component is at 1700 Asylum Ave., which calls for the construction of four multi-story residential apartment buildings, the rezoning of which was approved by the council.

Another component at 1800 Asylum Ave. calls for the construction of 14 new buildings to have a diverse array of uses ranging from mixed-use to housing to retail/commercial buildings.

This aspect of the development still has many components that require town approval and was not subject to any council action on Monday.

As for the rezoning plan, a parade of residents opposed the project, expressing concern about the town's ability to handle additional residents and how it might impact their quality of life.

Those worries dealt with increased service commitments such as education, law enforcement and emergency services, among others.

Citing several studies, West Hartford Town Manager Rick Ledwith said the impacts are not as severe as many think.

He said such multi-family developments, traditionally, don't bring in as many extra children into the school system as some claim.

Meanwhile, Ledwith said, the impact on fire and police services is not expected to be that significant either.

"We don't foresee the need to hire any additional police or firefighters to meet the public safety needs of this particular development," Ledwith said.

Such impacts, however, were the crux of Fay's opposition to the plan as were concerns from residents in that area about declining property values should more housing be built there.

"Your home is your primary asset, probably the most that you spent in your life ever," Fay said. "I am concerned about the people who spoke of property depreciation and loss of value in their single-family homes that are close to this area. There's many, many of them."

Fay said, perhaps, instead of apartments, the new housing units could be condominiums, which would be attractive to older residents looking to downsize instead of single-family rental units. "Why not condos?" she said.

Attorney Robin Pearson of Alter & Pearson in Glastonbury represented the developer at the meeting. She said rental units are more in demand these days.

"There is clearly a market for the rental units. That is a very strong market," she said. "It is our experience that people are quite inclined to actually want to look for a rental."

"The rental market is stronger than the condominium market. And that's the answer," Pearson continued.

"West Hartford is a town of single-family homeowners. Rental units are a small component of the diverse housing types you have."

Ultimately, council members supported the move, which fits in with West Hartford's ongoing quest to diversify its housing stock, including the addition of more affordable housing units.

Redevelopment of the site, which was the UConn-Hartford branch from 1970 to 2017, has been part of town conversations for years after the campus relocated to downtown Hartford.

West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor said a successful, thriving development at that location won't cause property values to decrease.

It might cause them to increase, she said, citing area realtors stating this is a vacant property being developed by a reputable developer.

"This development is not happening because we want grand list growth. But it is happening because it is a very good use of providing homes where a parking lot stood," Cantor said.

"I do think it is going to add to the vibrancy of this area of town. We have not seen much investment in the north end of this community."

For all documents related to the rezone application for part of the UConn site, click on this link.

From Jan. 18: 'WeHa Wetlands Board OKs Part Of Massive Development At UConn Site

'