Opposition builds against proposed warehouses in Killingly
Allison Cross
Killingly — Opponents of a plan to construct a 1.37
million-square-foot warehouse on undeveloped woodlands in the town’s
business park are encouraging residents to join the Inland Wetlands and
Watercourses Commission on a site walk of the property on Friday.
Ryan Companies U.S.
Inc.’s proposal, known as Project Husky, would transform 246 acres of woods
and wetlands into a massive new distribution center.
As the project sits within the confines of the town’s
business park zoning district, the proposal only needs to pass a site plan
review to move forward with the Planning and Zoning Commission. Under state
law, commissioners can only modify or deny site plans that fail to comply
with the town’s zoning regulations. If all conditions are met, the site plan
must pass.
However, unlike the Planning and Zoning Commission
application, Ryan Companies’ application with the Inland Wetlands and
Watercourses Commission requires a public hearing.
Residents are jumping on the opportunity to provide input
and Project Husky opponents are urging like-minded community members to attend
a site walk at 9 a.m. on Friday at 228 Westcott Road.
The proposed construction site sits within a larger 556-acre
stretch of land between Interstate 395, Westcott Road and Mashentuck Road,
including the Markover Hunting Preserve. Employees and tractor-trailers would
access the warehouse via two driveways on Westcott Road.
The debate over Project Husky, and another pending proposal
for a pair of 178,750-square-foot and 297,500-square-foot warehouses at 90
Putnam Pike, has dominated public comment sections at Town Council, zoning, and
wetlands meetings for weeks.
While a handful of residents have spoken in support of the
projects and the jobs and tax revenue they would add to the town, the vast
majority of residents have urged town officials to reject the developments.
Opponents, especially those who live near the proposed development sites, say
the warehouses would degrade the rural character of the town, increase traffic,
noise and pollution, and destroy local forests, waterways and ecosystems.
The Planning and Zoning Commission opted to hire a law firm
to conduct a third-party review of Project Husky and the Putnam Pike proposals.
On Monday, the commission also moved forward with sending legal counsel a
request by the Keep Killingly Rural coalition to impose a moratorium
on large distribution centers.
Michelle Murphy, a former town councilor and the co-founder
of Keep Killingly Rural, said the temporary moratorium would apply to all new
zoning applications for warehouses and distribution centers that exceed 100,000
square feet in floor area. Murphy said the stop order would give commissioners
an opportunity to review whether the town’s zoning regulations adequately
address large-scale distribution facilities.
If accepted, the proposed moratorium would have no effect on
Project Husky, but it could potentially impact the Putnam Pike proposal. On
Monday, the Putnam Pike developer, Killingly 1, LLC, pulled its application
with the Planning and Zoning Commission. However, the developer said they
intend to re-file an updated application soon.
It is unclear whether the Putnam Pike project would still be
grandfathered in if the commission were to approve the moratorium request
before Killingly 1, LLC, resubmits its zoning application.
Angelina Wagner, a Putnam resident who has a doctorate in
global business management, told commission members on Monday that they “should
really consider taking on that moratorium.”
“You have a lot of gray language in your regulations, and
that is something that big corporations look for so that they can sneak
developments like this into communities that may not want it,” Wagner said.
“Your community is coming to you right now, saying, ‘We don’t want this. We
want you to define things. We don’t want gray language so that other people in
board rooms across the world can decide what our community looks like.'”
In a message to the Killingly community, Wagner, who has
joined her friends in town to fight against the proposed warehouses, encouraged
the surrounding community to participate in Friday’s site walk.
“This is an opportunity to stand on the land itself, to see
firsthand the area that would be impacted, and to better understand the scale
and location of what is being proposed,” Wagner said. “Even if you are still
forming your opinion, this is a chance to observe, ask questions, and be part
of the process before decisions are made.”
Ryan Companies said Project Husky would preserve roughly 292
acres of open space, with 216 acres deeded to the town for conservation and
another 76 acres protected under a conservation easement.
According to the application materials, the 246-acre
development area and 292-acre conservation area include “a wide variety of high
value upland and wetland habitats including headwaters to Mashentuck Brook,
Whetstone Brook and multiple vernal pools.”
Approximately 22,446 square feet of wetlands would be
disturbed during construction and 16,921 square feet of wetlands would be
restored through mitigation efforts. Ryan Companies said “the highest quality
wetland and aquatic resources” would be preserved.
Councilwoman Ulla Tiik-Barclay said that in 2003, residents
successfully opposed a proposal to construct a Walmart distribution center in
the same area as Project Husky. More than 20 years later, Tiik-Barclay and
others shared their dismay at seeing history repeat itself.
Tiik-Barclay told the Planning and Zoning Commission and
town zoning staff that they “have gone against the will of the people."
“The people are at the top of the chain of command,”
Tiik-Barclay said. “You are supposed to follow what the people want, and this
is not what they want.”
Final stages of construction at Mystic River Boathouse Park
Sarah Gordon
Stonington — Construction continued on the Mystic River
Boathouse Park on Wednesday as workers installed docking along the Mystic River
and roofing on top of the building.
The $5.3 million project, located next to the new Delamar
hotel and across the street from the former Rossie Mill, will feature a
boathouse, a rowing center and a park. The Hart Perry Boathouse will feature
two bays to store rowing shells, oars, coach boats and equipment, while the
second floor will house a 4,500-square-foot training Jim Dietz Rowing Center
with rowing machines and strength training equipment.
Located off Route 27, the park will offer the public scenic
views of and non-motorized boating access to the Mystic River. The facilities
will be used by the Stonington High School rowing program and the public
through Stonington Community Rowing Inc. The park will provide public shoreline
access to the community and space for educational programs by the Denison
Pequotsepos Nature Center and Mystic Aquarium.
Residents initially approved $2.2 million in bonding for the
project in 2016. The project was then delayed by the need to identify and
address contamination on the site, preserve a home on the property that is part
of a historic district and redesign the boathouse after residents criticized
its initial appearance.
The project broke ground and construction began in July 2025
and is expected to be completed in May of this year.
CT’s new $90M development agency poised to make first loan in Enfield redevelopment
A new quasi-public state agency armed with $90 million to
promote high-density housing in Connecticut downtowns and near mass transit is
poised to sign off on its first low-interest loan agreement with a developer
this week.
The Connecticut Municipal Development Authority’s Board of
Directors is scheduled to vote Thursday on a $9.36 million, 3% loan to support
a $53 million redevelopment of a 3.8-acre portion of the former Bigelow-Sanford
carpet mill site in Enfield’s Thompsonville neighborhood. The project, led by
Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and Windsor-based Grava Properties,
will deliver 156 apartment units adjacent to the Connecticut River and near the
planned Hartford Line passenger rail station.
“The most important thing about telling the story about our
first project is it’s now going to be real for a lot of folks and we want to
make sure that they know how to get to us if they have a project that aligns
with our mission,” said CMDA Executive Director David Kooris, who has spent the
past 18 months establishing the agency, enrolling municipalities, and creating
a framework for developer partnerships.
So far, 43 communities have agreed to take part, 14 of which
have finalized development districts in which the CMDA can help with planning,
infrastructure and developer financing.
Kooris anticipates a “cluster” of additional projects coming before the board
in the next two months, with each ultimately requiring state Bond Commission
authorization.
The Connecticut General Assembly has signed off on up to $90
million in bonding authorization for CMDA, the final $30 million of which
becomes accessible as of July 1. Based on early responses, Kooris said most or
all of that funding will be “mobilized” in projects by the close of fiscal
2027.
The “Enfield Station” project at 33 North River St. aligns
with CMDA’s mission, Kooris said, especially with the nearby construction of a
passenger rail station on the Hartford rail line. Together, the two projects
will help inspire additional investment in a once-thriving village center, he
said.
The Thompsonville section of Enfield had boomed as a
manufacturing jobs center for more than a century before the industry began to
shutter in the early 1970s. Since then, many businesses moved away and former
industrial sites sat unused.
“It’s a quaint little place on the Connecticut River,”
Kooris said. “This project — and it’s the first of potentially multiple phases
— really has the potential to move the needle in increasing opportunities in
Thompsonville.”
The Honeycomb-Grava project has additional government
backing, including a 12.5-year tax-fixing agreement from the town. The state
has pitched in with a $4 million brownfield cleanup grant, and the Federal
Housing Authority is backing a first mortgage on the development.
CMDA’s loan is structured on a 40-year term, to match the
FHA loan term. Twenty percent of the project’s units will rent at “workforce”
rates, meant to be affordable for households earning 80% of area median income.
CMDA’s backing is the last piece of the financing puzzle,
said Lewis Brown, managing member of Honeycomb. Once that is secure, Brown
said, the partnership will be able to acquire the property and begin
construction, events he expects to happen in June or July. He aims to complete
the project in the spring of 2028.
Thompsonville is a quaint area with a lot of potential,
within commuting distance of Hartford and Springfield and close enough to
Storrs to draw renters from that area, Brown noted. But the post-industrial
hamlet’s rents still lag behind much of Connecticut, making state and local
support essential, he said.
“But for the partnership, collaboration and confidence in
our team and vision from state and local leaders, this development would not be
realized,” Brown said.
Brown said his development, coupled with the new train station, could help
catalyze other investments in Thompsonville.
The CMDA Board of Directors will meet Thursday at 12 p.m.
Information about that meeting and the agency’s offerings can be found at
wearecmda.com.