Developer eyes North Main Street for senior facility

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By Andreas Yilma, Staff Writer

An artistic rendering of what a proposed senior assisted living and memory care facility in Naugatuck could look like. A Fairfield-based company wants to build a 60,700-square-foot facility on North Main Street. –CONTRIBUTED

NAUGATUCK — A Fairfield-based development company is eyeing land on North Main Street as the site for a senior assisted living and memory care facility.

Senior Living Development, LLC, is proposing to construct a 60,700-square-foot, five-story facility at 491-501 North Main St. and 24 Wood St. The 1.26-acre plot of land is off North Main Street, between Wood Street and Myrtle Avenue. There is a single-family home on the land as well as a couple other homes that house rental units and a commercial office, according to the special permit application for the proposed project.

The Zoning Commission Aug. 19 accepted the application. The commission set a hearing on the proposal for Sept. 16 at 6:05 p.m. at the Naugatuck Event Center.

Mark De Pecol, CEO of Senior Living Development, said he wants to build the facility in Naugatuck because he admires the borough.

“First of all, Naugatuck is a great place, great town and great people,” De Pecol said.

De Pecol added there aren’t any similar senior living facilities locally, and the proposed location is very accessible due to its proximity to Route 8.

“There is a lack of assisted living,” De Pecol said.

The proposed facility would be for people 62 years old or older who need daily assistance, according to the application. There would be 116 bedrooms, 50 parking spaces, a loading bay and refuse area, the application states.

The special permit application comes a few months after the Zoning Commission changed the regulations to allow for independent and assisted residential facilities for the elderly. Under the new regulations, such facilities are allowed in B-2, New Haven Road Design District and Rubber Avenue Design District zones through a special permit. The proposed site on North Main Street is a B-2 zone.

There would be 65 to 75 employees over three shifts, with the largest shift having about 35 workers, according to the application. The application states that residents won’t have their own cars, adding any traffic to and from the facility would be from guests and workers.

“It adds employment to the community, which adds to the beauty of the town,” De Pecol said.

If approved, construction is expected to start in early 2021 and take 14 to 16 months to finish. The project is estimated to cost $14 million, according to the application.