Council approves zone change for 220‑unit Center of New England project after stormwater and affordable‑housing debate

The Coventry Town Council voted unanimously 6-0 to approve a conditional zone change for a planned 220‑unit apartment development and separately adopted a local ordinance enabling tax‑stabilization agreements as a tool for economic development.

The zoning action follows a planning process in which the developer received a conditional master-plan approval from the Planning Board and sought a council zoning change to advance to preliminary and final engineering. Attorney Kelly Maris Salvatore, representing the applicant, told the council the project had been through an expanded master-plan review that included extra traffic and some stormwater data and that full stormwater design would be completed at preliminary plan stage before construction. She said the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the planning board would scrutinize final designs and that the zoning change is conditional on subsequent approvals.

Concerns from the Lake Tioga watershed community were raised at the public hearing. Jerry Norkowitz, representing the Lake Tioga Association, asked the council to delay any zoning variance or approval until hydrological and drainage studies are produced and reviewed by the conservation commission, citing historical "brownout" events and fish kills in the early 2000s. Several council members urged the applicant to work closely with the conservation commission and the town's watershed stakeholders during the next design stages.

Developer representatives and the town manager explained the statutory precedence of approvals under state law: planning‑board advisory recommendation and conditional planning approval first, then a conditional zoning change by the council, and then return to the planning board for preliminary and final approvals. Planning commision members said the conditional zone change is intended to allow the developer to proceed to the costly engineering phase; if subsequent approvals are not met, the zoning would not vest.

On affordable housing, the council approved a developer request to set the low/moderate‑income (LMI) allocation at 15% rather than 18%. The applicant's consultant presented a pro‑forma estimating that moving from 15% to 18% would reduce project feasibility by roughly $5.5 million. Some council members, while sympathetic to watershed concerns, said the town also needs development and that the planning board and DEM will hold the project to engineering standards.

The council also approved an ordinance to adopt tax‑stabilization authority for the town; the solicitor described the local ordinance as the mechanism that lets the town enter into tax‑stabilization agreements authorized by state enabling legislation.

A separate public hearing led the council to approve, pending completion of town and fire‑department checklists, a transfer of a Class B liquor license and a victualing license for a proposed tavern at a property whose buyer said he has secured DEM approval for a septic system and will close purchase only after town approvals. The council passed that motion 6-0 with the license transfers explicitly conditioned on receipt of the required town and fire approvals.

Ending

The zone change was approved as a conditional, precedent‑of‑approvals action; final engineering, stormwater, and state permits must be obtained at the planning stage for the project to proceed. The council's votes add the project to the town's development pipeline while preserving review steps for environmental protections and construction details.