Vessel apartments approved after court fight: Technologically advanced apartments aimed at filling a housing gap in town

By Peter Marteka

Editor

It appears a plan to build an apartment complex in the middle of an industrial zone will be moving forward after a three-year court battle.

Vessel Technologies first brought the proposal before the town plan and zoning commission to construct a three-story, 48-unit apartment building at 51 Kreiger Lane in the town’s planned commerce and groundwater protection zone in 2022. The complex would join a mix of commercial and industrial businesses close to another successful residential complex - the 250-unit Tannery.

The commission rejected the plan in 2023 noting residential uses and developments were not permitted uses in an industrial zone. After several court battles, Vessel prevailed, and the commission approved the plan in June.

Town Attorney Ken Slater explained the commission needed to determine whether substantial evidence exists that public health, safety, or other legally recognizable interests clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing.

“While there’s important findings of the need for affordable housing, it built in also the important need of a community that has designated areas for industrial development that that be protected,” he said.

But Slater noted there is also a residential prong  that it would be the commission’s burden to find evidence of the record that a health, safety or other matters can legally be considered that would clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing.

“The kind of substantial evidence you need can’t be generalized concerns,” he said. “There has to be some quantifiable harm. There has to be some tangible evidence that there’s quantifiable harm that would be caused by the development.”

Commission vice-chair Sharon Jagel, who wasn’t on the commission for the original vote, watched the meetings and reviewed the minutes and other documents.

“We don’t have any specific – or the word is quantifiable – evidence on the record that there’s a substantial harm I think to the public that would outweigh the need for affordable housing,” she said.

An architectural rendering of the 48-unit apartment building. (Town of Glastonbury)

Commission alternate Deborah Carroll said she had “plenty of concerns” about the proposal.

“But lacking...tangible evidence of harm, I think we’re obligated under the law to approve this,” she said.

Commission chairman Robert J. Zanlungo, Jr., the lone member on the commission when the proposal was denied also voted in favor.

“While I don’t feel like housing is appropriate in the industrial zone under the law, I must vote yes because we do not have specific evidence and the aforementioned quantifiable harm to public health and safety,” he said.

The apartment complex would be built on this site at 51 Kreiger Lane. (Marteka)

The goal of the developers is to provide reasonably-priced, high-quality apartments for single people or empty-nesters looking to downsize. The New York-based developer  has constructed a five-story building in New London and has approval for buildings in Rocky Hill, Simsbury and Bethel. The first completed building stands in Trenton, N.J.

The company’s Glastonbury plan includes an 8,600-square-foot modernistic, box building with three floors of one-bedroom apartments built on an acre of land. The building is constructed with steel with all the materials fire resistant. The apartments include state-of-the-art mechanical, electrical, and biometric systems. A solar roof array provides the building with electricity.

Vessel Technology’s mission is to “offer each person an equal opportunity for an extraordinary life by providing access to homes that are exciting, sustainable, and attainably priced.” The Vessel system is 100 percent electric and derives all of the power required from solar panels on the roof. In-unit technology keeps users informed of their consumption of electricity and water, because “conservation starts with an understanding of consumption.”

During the original proposal, developers noted 30 percent of the apartments will be affordable with monthly rents ranging from $1,054 to $1,265. The normal monthly rent was proposed at $1,691. Developers noted the site work could be done in three months with the building up in another 6-8 months and occupancy by 9-11 months.

The apartment building location is along a bus line with nearby access to Stop & Shop and CVS Pharmacy. The units are aimed to appeal to those who are between 22-years-old and 32-years-old like teachers, firefighters or police officers who can’t afford to live in the high-quality housing of most communities.

Developers noted tenants “can have access to a high-quality, luxury-level, safe, sustainable, energy-efficient, healthy home in the communities they are working in instead of living in substandard conditions or being rent burdened.” GL