Advocates for affordable housing in Simsbury have suggested using part of the Meadowood open space preserve, but local officials this summer dropped the idea because the referendum to buy the 288 acres never mentioned the possibility of development.
The town was seeking a feasibility assessment from regional planners about whether it would be feasible to put small cottage homes on a 24-acre section of Meadowood, but recently withdrew the request.
“We were looking for a free feasibility study, but after a resident raised the referendum issue I decided that in good conscience we had to take a step back,” First Selectman Wendy Mackstutis said Thursday. “Some of the people who voted in 2021 and weren’t paying attention to selectmen’s meetings might not have known about the 24-acre carve-out.”
Residents four years ago voted 3,022 to 439 to join the Trust for Public Land in buying Meadowood for more than $6 million, chiefly with the goal of preserving the former farmland and fields from large-scale development.
Maps and public presentations at the time indicated the property would be kept undeveloped with the exception of a 24-acre section that might be turned into an athletic field. But that 24-acre exception wasn’t included in the wording of the referendum.
Simsbury put $2.5 million toward the purchase, with state grants and private donations through The Trust for Public Land covering the rest. The purchase agreement gave the state an easement for recreational access for nearly 140 acres, and another 120 acres — including the former tobacco sheds on Hoskins Road — was earmarked as farmland preservation.
Another 4 acres was designated for historic preservation, probably to include some form of recognition of Martin Luther King Jr., who in his youth had worked in Simsbury fields. One plan was for an interpretive display, possibly in the empty barns, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.
In discussions leading up to the vote, selectmen said the town would set aside another 24 acres for future municipal use, possibly for conversion to playing fields. But after the purchase, Simsbury never pursued the plan for fields.
The town didn’t list that idea in the wording on the referendum, which said “Shall the town of Simsbury appropriate $2,515,860 for the purchase and improvement of Meadowood (approximately 288 acres of undeveloped land located off Hoskins Road, County Road and Firetown Road); and authorize bonds and notes in the same amount to finance said appropriation?”
Mackstutis said she wants to find out why the 24-acre carve-out was discussed so widely but wasn’t in the referendum question or an accompanying explanatory map.
Supporters of the purchase in 2021 had been aided by a developer’s proposal to put up 299 homes on the Meadowood land, with a quarter of them designated as affordable housing.
After the purchase, the town’s affordable housing committee raised the idea of using the 24 acres as a site for small homes for low-income seniors or possibly other affordable housing.
“We took up the recommendation by the Housing Policy Advisory Committee to look at potential sites, and it was suggested to look at Meadowood,” said Mackstutis, who applied to the Capitol Region Council of Governments for a feasibility study.
“I have asked CRCOG to remove Meadowood from their first round of consideration for a funded feasibility study to explore options for a ‘cottage community’ of single small homes on the carve-out property,” Mackstutis told residents in a message this week.
“I based this decision on information from the referendum. It appears some members of the public were aware of the 24-acre carve-out, while others may not have been. This issue needs further clarification and has now been postponed,” she wrote.
On Thursday, she referred to it as “not a top priority” and said selectmen will instead consider other potential options for affordable housing in town.
