Geer discusses expansion plan with wetlands commission

NORTH CANAAN — A plan for an affordable older adult housing complex was back for a second time before the Inland Wetlands Commission last week. Geer Corp. has not yet made an official application. The current focus is to determine exactly how much of a 7-acre site is usable.

Russell Riva, chair of the Board of Directors, and John Horstman, COO, presented a preliminary plan that puts up to 24 cottages on the undeveloped property across from the Geer Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The property fronts on both Route 7 and Sand Road, just south of where they intersect.

Riva said Geer has owned the property for many, many years. It was last used, probably in the 1940s, as a camp he recalled as Holiday House. Research by The Journal found it may have been the Bungalow Friendly Society Holiday House.

The homes would be a single story, about 1,500 to 1,800 square feet, built on sandy soil on mostly level land, and served by public water and sewer.

"From a business perspective, building cottages for independent adults aged 50 and older is just kind of a natural thing," Horstman said. "There is a big demand for apartments at Geer Village. We hope to be able to meet a need."

But there are other issues that had wetlands commissioners concerned over the project’s viability.

Home sites would surround two wetlands areas totaling 14,000 square feet. Geer is avoiding filling in any wetlands. Typically, developments are required by the Army Corps of Engineers to create new wetlands to compensate. Remediation of twice as much wetlands acreage is usually required.

In order to fit in enough homes to make the project financially viable, while not disturbing existing wetlands, Geer is seeking a variance to the required 100-foot buffer zones around wetlands.

One wetlands area was the former camp pool, likely a lined pond. Geer is proposing a 25-foot setback there. They are seeking a 50-foot setback around the other wetland area.

"If we have to have 100-foot setbacks, we’re not going to have enough land to allow enough units to make the project worth it," Riva said.

He counted 23 units mapped on a proposal on the table.

"The requirement could cut it down to only six homes," he said.

Another issue is a pile of debris left over from the demolition of the Robert C. Geer Memorial Hospital about a decade ago. The old brick hospital was removed to make way for Beckley House, an independent living apartment building on the Geer campus.

"We did an asbestos abatement and moved five to seven trainloads of debris away," Horstman said.

The remaining debris is the subject of an open case file with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).Wetlands commission member Michael O’Connor said he believes the DEP case would have to be closed, meaning removal of the debris and testing for ground contamination, before any local approvals could be sought.

An overriding concern for any activities there is that it lies adjacent to a portion of the Robbins Swamp, the state’s largest protected wetland.

It was determined that if an application is filed, the plan would require a public hearing and review by the town’s consulting engineer.