Regular Meeting of the Town Planning and Zoning Commission - January 13, 2026
Regular Meeting of the Town Planning and Zoning Commission - January 13, 2026
The Town Planning and Zoning Commission held a hybrid regular meeting on January 13, 2026, at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers, Town Hall, 275 Broad Street, Windsor, CT. The meeting addressed routine site plan revisions, approval of minutes, the planner's report on the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), reappointment of representatives to the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), and three public hearings. No public comments were received.
Discussion Items
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Approval of Minutes (December 9, 2025): The commission discussed and approved the draft minutes with several amendments, including correcting a missing word ("solar") and clarifying a comment about "degeneration of the office" due to COVID-19. The motion carried unanimously.
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Planner's Report: Town Planner Mitch Seeley reported that the final draft of the POCD was forwarded to the Town Council and CRCOG on December 15, 2025, for a 65-day review period. The Town Council has scheduled a public hearing for January 20, 2026. The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold its own public hearing on the POCD after the review period; a special meeting on February 24, 2026, is proposed. The commission directed staff to confirm that date.
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Reappointment to CRCOG: The commission unanimously reappointed Meg Harvey and Donald Jepsen as the town's representatives to the Capitol Region Council of Governments.
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Site Plan Revisions (Staff Report): Staff reported that four site plan revisions had been approved administratively since the last meeting: (1) 2200 Day Hill Road – tree removal (Noble Energy Real Estate Holdings, LLC), (2) 144 Broad Street – site plan modification (144 152 Broad Street, LLC), (3) 4 Batchelder Road – breezeway (Concodello/Loomis), and (4) 97 Pierson Lane – exterior lighting (Hawran). Chair Mipps asked for clarification on the tree removal approval, which staff explained was part of the Noble gas station phased approval.
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Application Acceptance: The commission accepted several applications for the February meeting, including a special use re-approval for Kimberly Hall South (nursing home), a special use for a full-service restaurant at 540 Windsor Avenue, and a text amendment for the Day Hill Design Development District.
Public Hearings
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Special Use Re-approval (Postponed): The public hearing for 231 Dudley Town Road (garaged/open storage of commercial vehicles) was postponed again because the application requires review and approval by the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission, anticipated in February 2026. The commission noted the statutory timeline allows action by March 2026.
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Text Amendment – Conversion of Existing Buildings (Section 4.5.1B(4)(c)): Applicant Gregory Vaca of Grava Properties presented a text amendment to permit conversion of obsolete and vacant institutional or mixed-use buildings in Windsor Center into residential uses, with minimum unit sizes (average 650 sq. ft. for one-bedroom/studio, no unit less than 500 sq. ft.; average 950 sq. ft. for two-bedroom). The amendment is limited to Windsor Center (excluding fringe areas per commission discussion). Staff identified about 40 qualifying buildings. The commission heard no public comments. A CRCOG referral found no conflict with regional plans. The commission approved the text amendment unanimously, subject to final language as discussed.
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Special Use – Freestanding Sign at 99 Lamberton Road (Travelers Insurance): Applicant Matthew Seymour requested approval to install a red umbrella sculpture (formerly at Duncan Park, Hartford) as a landmark identification feature. The sculpture meets the definition of a sign under zoning regulations. The commission questioned anchoring (concrete pier engineered for wind loads) and found the location appropriate. No public comments. The commission unanimously approved the special use permit.
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Design Development Concept Plan – 500 Day Hill Road (Alford Associates, LLC): Christian Alfred and Jeff O'Neill presented a concept plan for a mixed-use development on 20.64 acres in the I Zone (Day Hill Design Development District, Voya Village transect). The proposal includes converting an existing 100,000 sq. ft. office building into apartments with a four-story addition, constructing three additional four-story apartment buildings (total 300 units, 15% affordable at deeper income levels), and three commercial/retail buildings (20,000 sq. ft.). The site would have 509 parking spaces (64 garage), 6.1 acres of open space, a pool, pickleball courts, dog park, and walking trails. A traffic study submitted showed minimal impact (66 trips in AM peak hour, 110 in PM, 152 on Saturday peak). The commission discussed concerns about trash enclosure visibility on Marshall Phelps Road, the need for a traffic study (though one was submitted and reviewed by BL Companies), and architectural materials (fiber cement cladding). The commission requested that the final detailed plan address these comments and include wetland commission approval. No public comments. The commission approved the concept plan unanimously, subject to resolution of outstanding staff comments and subsequent wetlands approval.
Key Outcomes
- Approved minutes of December 9, 2025, with amendments.
- Reappointed Meg Harvey and Donald Jepsen to CRCOG.
- Approved text amendment Section 4.5.1B(4)(c) for conversion of existing buildings in Windsor Center.
- Approved special use permit for a freestanding sign (Travelers umbrella sculpture) at 99 Lamberton Road.
- Approved the design development concept plan for 500 Day Hill Road (mixed-use development), with conditions to be addressed at the detailed plan stage.
- Postponed the public hearing for 231 Dudley Town Road pending wetlands approval.
Meeting Transcript
I'll call the regular meeting of the planning zoning commission to order. And uh first off, Mitch, would you let the people in the home know how they can get in on Zoom? If there's anyone from the public who would like to address the commission, you may do so by raising your hand on your computer if your device has a microphone capability. By selecting the participants icon, the zoom menu bar and then clicking raise hand or by dialing star nine on your phone. When you're called on your be prompted that you were now unmuted, please state your name and address for clear communication. We ask that you do not place the call and speaker phone. Thank you. First item of business is public communications and petitions from anyone in the audience that wishes to speak to any item that is not a public hearing item this evening. We have anyone online. No one online. Thank you. Planning and zoning commission. Anybody have meetings or anything that they've attended? No. Okay. No zoning enforcement officers, no CGS, no pre-app scrutiny. Reapprovals and revisions. Mr. Seely. Yes, ma'am. We've had uh four site plan revisions approved since our last meeting. Uh the first one at 2200 Day Hill Road. Um this was for tree removal. Uh this is in the Great Pond Development for Noble Energy. Uh the second 3.9 was for 144 Broad Street, a site plan modification, uh B-2 zone. The third application was for four batch elder road, uh Breezeway, NZ Zone, uh Loomis was the applicant. And then for 97 Pearson Lane, exterior air lighting, I zone Horan was the applicant. Can I um could you just explain um from my own information why um tree removal had to be approved part of it? Yes, ma'am. So um this was part of the Noble gas station approval, and this was kind of a phased uh two-phase approval process that they went through. Um phase one, they had a kind of a grove of trees that were approved. Um if you're looking at the gas station kind of driving towards Blue Hills Avenue, it would have been kind of right there at the front of the site. Um those trees were cleared and removed as part of the the clearing for that gas station, kind of before even Noble really got involved with the site. Um so the plan that was submitted by the engineers included those trees in there, so to remove them, they needed to revise the plan to do so. Okay, we have no site plan, so we go to the minutes of December 9th. Okay, just a few things, just a few things. Okay. Um page two the fourth paragraph. Um he commented that there might be an opportunity to install that's the missing word solar in the future. Um page four, the very last paragraph. Um perhaps Commissioners Jefferson or DiCarlo could explain um if this makes sense to them because I I couldn't recall what this conversation was about, especially when it gets to the point where he said he said with the degradation of the office, which was regeneration, excuse me, degeneration of the office, which was one of the prime customers. Could you just tell me what that was about and if that makes sense to you? Either one of you. I I think what he meant is office is uh nobody going to the office. I I I believe that's probably what he meant. Right. Uh yeah, degeneration of the office because of because of COVID. I thought that's what it said, but it wasn't very clear. I believe correctly that's what we're doing. All right, okay.
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