Elderly housing complex planned for Lake Avenue

A developer plans to construct a 49-unit “garden style” elderly housing complex on Lake Avenue.

The 5.2-acre site would include 11 buildings -- six of them containing four side-by-side dwellings and five others with five units apiece, according to plans submitted to the city’s land use office.

“The need is there. It’s going to be affordable and it’s going to be beautiful,” said Samuel Vasile, one of the three principals in Apple Grove Hollow, LLC, the developer.

The units will all be rentals, Vasile said.

Vasile said that construction could begin by mid-summer.

City Planner Alan Weiner said he doesn’t anticipate any problems with the zoning approvals necessary given that “the area has been mixed in terms of multi-family development” for many years.

The 651 Lake Ave. lot for the development is mostly level on the east side of the road and backs up onto 229 Technology Park and to the site where the city runs its recycling center. It faces South Mountain.

The Zoning Commission will consider the request at its 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 10 meeting, which includes the opportunity for the public to have its say.

Weiner said he’s not sure what the elderly housing designation the developers are using actually means. It could be anything from an active 55 and older community to a more tranquil setting for older residents.

Vasile said it’s simply designated for those who are 55 and older.

The units will have the main living space on the first floor, but also contain full basements and a second floor that has a spare bedroom or office as well as another bathroom. Washer and dryer hookups would be on the main floor, Vasile said.

If the zoning panel approves the project, the developer wouldn’t necessarily get to work quickly.

Weiner said that the approval carries “a 5-year shelf life” and can be extended by the commission.

But Vasile, who is developing the family-owned property with two sisters, said they don’t plan to wait. They want to get it underway soon, he said.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Too many Republicans?

Though Democrats have controlled City Hall for years, the powerful Zoning Commission is a Republican hotbed.
Of the five members who currently sit on the panel, four are GOP loyalists, including its longtime chairman, Frank Johnson.
The commission generally has five full members and three alternates.
Mayor Art Ward has plans to fill two vacant alternate positions next week - and at least one of his choices is yet another Republican.
Ward said this week he intends to tap Michael Thomas, whose background I don't know, and Joseph Geladino to serve as the two alternatives until December 2010. The City Council will vote on the choices next week.
Geladino ran unsuccessfully for a 2nd District council seat last year on the GOP ticket. Ward said that Geladino asked to be on a land use board so he's getting the chance.
What isn't clear is whether it's okay for five Republicans to sit on the 7-person board.
It's not unimaginable that the sole Democrat, John Lodovico, could be absent sometime and if Geladino filled in, an application could be heard entirely by Republicans.
I think, though, that state minority representation rules require that no more than two-thirds of a municipal board hail from the same party. If that's the case, there can't be more than four Republicans serving as zoning commissioners, which would preclude the appointment of Geladino.
It's all sort of funny since, of course, nobody ever dreamed that a heavily majority Democratic town such as Bristol would appoint too many Republicans to something as crucial as the Zoning Commission.
And yet that appears to be a problem.

Update at 3:45 p.m. - Mayor Art Ward said the issue was "just brought to my attention" and he's going to review it.
By the way, he said he plans to name the members he wants for a Park Revitalization Committee this week. I'll provide the names as soon as the mayor tells me who they are, unless someone tells me sooner than that.

Here's the version of this that was in the newspaper:
An unexpected hitch may prevent the appointment of former Republican City Council contender Joe Geladino as a zoning commissioner.
It appears that Geladino’s appointment would tip the commission’s balance so far in favor of the GOP that its makeup would violate a state law guaranteeing neither party dominates municipal boards unfairly.
What’s peculiar about the situation is that Bristol has been controlled by Democrats for the past 14 years and the Republicans are outnumbered in the electorate by more than two-to-one.
Even so, four of the five members of the Zoning Commission appear to be registered Republicans, including its longtime chairman, Frank Johnson.
The only Democrat is John Lodovico, vice chairman of the panel.
The commission generally has five full members and three alternates, but the alternate positions are vacant.Mayor Art Ward said this week he plans to fill those two of the vacant alternate slots at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Ward said this week he intends to tap Geladino and Michael Thomas to serve as the two alternatives until December 2010. The City Council will vote on the choices next week.Geladino ran unsuccessfully for a 2nd District council seat last year on the GOP ticket.
Ward said that Geladino asked to be on a land use board so he's getting the chance.
State minority representation rules require that no more than two-thirds of a municipal board hail from the same party. If that's the case, there can't be more than four Republicans serving as zoning commissioners, which would preclude the appointment of Geladino.
If Geladino were tapped for the volunteer post, it’s conceivable that a situation could arise in which he could fill in for Lodovico, if the Democrat was absent, and the five members rendering a decision on a particular application could all be Republicans.
Told late Wednesday that there might be a problem with minority representation for Democrats on the commission, Ward said he would have to review the situation to see if he can go ahead with Geladino’s appointment.
The current members of the zoning board are Johnson, Lodovico, David White, Gina Newman and Kenneth Nairne.

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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com