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Waveny Care Center presents 30‑bed addition and zoning text amendment; commissioners ask for refined materials, light plan and neighbor outreach
Summary
Waveny Life Care Network presented designs and supporting engineering on Jan. 28 for a two‑level, roughly 20,000‑square‑foot inpatient addition adding 30 private rooms at 3 Farm Road and requested a zoning text amendment to authorize larger coverage and height via special permit.
Waveny Life Care Network presented a proposal on Jan. 28 to add a two‑level, roughly 20,000‑square‑foot inpatient addition at 3 Farm Road, and asked the commission to amend the Waveny zoning text to allow greater building coverage and a higher building height by special permit.
Russ Barksdale, Waveny’s president and CEO, said the nonprofit needs 30 additional private inpatient rooms to meet local demand and to maintain capacity as area hospitals and skilled nursing providers consolidate. Project counsel and the design team presented an integrated package including architectural renderings, civil engineering, stormwater design, landscaping and a traffic/parking memo. The proposed building sits forward of the existing facility with a two‑story mass containing patient rooms on the second level and a covered drop‑off and administrative spaces at grade; rooftop solar panels and screened mechanical equipment are included.
The design team said the proposal focuses new parking and visitor drop‑off toward Farm Road, creates “healing gardens” between the new and existing building for resident use, and adds stormwater mitigation measures. LandTech presented a stormwater plan that uses infiltration chambers, hydrodynamic separators and on‑site treatment sized to accommodate new impervious area and to reduce discharge rates to an existing forebay and downstream wetlands; the wetlands commission approved the wetlands matters the previous evening. The applicant has a logistics and phasing plan to keep the existing facility operational during construction and negotiated off‑site parking and shuttle arrangements during peak school activity.
Commissioners asked for several clarifications before further action: a more detailed nighttime lighting and facade illumination plan, final materials samples (the team proposed terracotta cladding and wood‑like soffits), exact parking/EV‑charging strategy, a finalized drainage response to the town engineer and clearer renderings showing the daytime and nighttime view from Farm Road. Several commissioners encouraged the applicant to continue neighborhood outreach and to bring the town engineer and fire marshal’s final comments forward. The commission did not vote on the zoning text amendment or the special permit and left the application open for further detailed submissions.
Speakers at the hearing included project architects, engineers, landscape architects and a traffic consultant; a small number of neighbors spoke in support and opposition, and the commission heard comments about scale, visibility from Farm Road and the desire for stronger screening and natural appearance in material choices. The commission requested additional detail on (1) lighting at night, (2) façade materials and sample panels, (3) parking and EV‑charging plans, (4) final drainage responses, and (5) further neighborhood coordination.
