Windsor Residents Split on Poquonock Apartments Proposal

While the town planning and zoning commission postponed its decision on detailed plans of the Village at Poquonock proposal to its meeting in December, Windsor residents filled town hall council chambers for the proposal's public hearing, shedding light on a rift in town.

Although the commission's October meeting was marked by Poquonock residents opposed to the 300-unit housing-development proposal, Tuesday's meeting revealed both considerable support for the project in addition to the opposition.

Residents like Rich Schuler, who happens to own Poquonock Avenue's Tunxis Grill & Pizzeria, said they welcome the project with open arms, particularly because it is being built by Windsor residents and will bring young families to town.

Get Windsor news delivered to you every day! Sign up here to receive all the headlines every morning for free!

Conversely, opposition to the project was marked by residents' concerns regarding the introduction of a relatively large rental population (62 apartments and 42 townhouses are included in the project's proposal) to the area and the problems increased traffic to one of Windsor's busiest roads will have on the local quality of life.

The commission continued the public hearing and postponed its decision at its October meeting mostly because Town Planner Eric Barz and the commission's members expressed an interest in hearing the results of a traffic study conducted on Route 75 and adjacent roads.

While representatives of the applicant, Poquonock Commons, LLC, detailed results of a traffic study conducted in late October at Tuesday's meeting, the information provided failed to imbue commission members with the confidence needed to approve the project's plans.

Following the public hearing, commission member David Kelsey said he would be unable to vote in favor of the project without an opinion from the town attorney and clarification from the town's traffic engineer.

As a result, the commission decided to table its relvelent action and vote at its next scheduled meeting, after having received word from both the town attorney and traffic engineer.