Action On Old College Site In Southington Delayed Further

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Plans to convert a vacant college campus in town into a large housing development are further on hold.

For the second meeting in a row, the Southington Planning and Zoning Commission tabled a public hearing and decision on a rezoning plan to allow a developer to redevelop the old Briarwood/Lincoln College site on Mount Vernon Road.

The latest vote to table happened last week at the April 1 PZC meeting at the request of the applicant, New Haven-based PGX Holdings LLC.

PGX has applied to the PZC to seek a zone change allowing the old Briarwood/Lincoln College campus at 2279 Mount Vernon Road to become a housing development for those aged 55 and over.

In order for such a development to happen, the zoning for the property needs to be adjusted from residential zoning to what is called "ARCHZ" — an acronym for "age-restricted cluster housing zone."

The 32.75-acre campus in Southington, once home to Briarwood College, then the Lincoln College of New England, now sits empty.

Lincoln shut down in 2018, and the campus has been vacant since.

At the March 4 PZC meeting, the commission extended a public hearing on the application to Tuesday, March 18.

At that meeting, Southington PZC Chairman Robert Hammersley said PGX requested more time to fine-tune its application per the request of the commission.

This resulted in the item being tabled to April 1, where it was tabled further by the zoning board with the applicant still working on a response.

The PZC did not indicate when the zone change would be taken up again, but it next meets Tuesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. at the John Weichsel Municipal Center, 196 N. Main St., Southington.

If a zone change is granted, the applicants would have to come back to the PZC for a site plan review/approval regarding the actual project itself.

For the minutes of the April 1 Southington Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, click on this link.

From March 24: 'Southington PZC Tables Rezone Plan For Project At Old College Campus'