The New York developer pursuing a controversial plan to build 42 “attainably priced” apartments near Granby’s town center hit a new obstacle this month when the wetlands board unanimously rejected its request for a permit.
The decision focused on potential wetlands impacts from Vessel Technologies’ plan, but the nights of lengthy hearings leading up to it illustrated a deeper rift between the developer and some residents of the relatively rural town.
The company’s unique approach to addressing Connecticut’s housing shortage has gone over well in New London, Cheshire and elsewhere, but hit public pushback in Simsbury, Glastonbury and Granby.
It recently filed for a zone change that would allow Vessel to build in Manchester, and Avon’s planning and zoning commission is expected next week to take up its proposal for 64 apartments in that town.
In Granby, Vessel got a generally cold reception from residents when it first pitched the idea of its super-modern but tiny apartments more than a year ago. A small but vocal opposition group continues fighting: Vessel downsized the original proposal last fall, but that didn’t sway the critics who’ve been arguing against the new version all spring.
“My concern is there are credibility issues here,” homeowner Curtis Johnson told the wetlands board last month, suggesting the company vastly overestimated the cost of a sewer connection compared to a installing a septic system.
John Morrone of Maple Hill Drive took issue with Vessel’s professional consultants, telling the commission “They’re all paid, they’re going to say it’s snowing out today, they’ll say anything they want to say to get this done.”
The issue in contention for the wetlands board is whether the complex septic system that Vessel contractors designed to fit the 2.5-acre lot at 37 Hartford Ave. Located between two dental offices, the tract isn’t served by the town sewer system.
Vessel has said that running a connection to the closest point of the sewer line would cost more than $1 million and be prohibitively expensive. But neighbors contend that the existing line ends far closer to the property than Vessel says, and that its cost estimates are wildly high.
The professional soil scientists that Vessel hired as consultants contended that a septic system would allow no harm to nearby wetlands, but neighbors argue that the potential for nitrogen leakage is worse than the company says.
In voting down Vessel’s wetlands application last week, the commission said the company must first get a complete review of its septic system plan by the state health department a well as the Farmington Valley Health District.
Vessel Technologies’ proposed septic system would contaminate nearby wetlands with nitrogen, commissioners said, and the company failed to demonstrate that it couldn’t feasibly connect to the municipal sewer line instead, commissioner said.
“The wetlands should not be used for nitrogen removal,” Commissioner Frederic Jones said. “The applicant has failed to evaluate the feasible and prudent alternative of connecting to the public sewer. In fact, the applicant has provided questionable information to the commission regarding the distance from the site to the public sewer as well as the feasibility of installing the sewer line in the state highway right of way.”
On Monday, Josh Levy of Vessel said it’s still undecided whether his company will return with a revised plan.
“At this time we’re really not sure. They didn’t rule it out as a project,” he said, adding that he hasn’t reviewed a written text of the commission’s reasoning.
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