The Coventry Technical Review Committee spent most of a July 15 meeting walking through detailed staff comments on a proposed 400-unit apartment complex, a plan that will go before the Planning Commission on July 22.
A large development on a 27-acre site
The project would place five multi-family buildings, plus three separate amenity buildings, on a 27-acre parcel that town staff described as the former site of a big-box retail plaza. Because the application is filed as a "comprehensive permit" under state law, at least 25% of the units — roughly 100 apartments — would have to be deed-restricted as affordable housing for low- and moderate-income renters, a status the state calls LMI.
Planning staff calculated that state density bonus rules and a prior, unbuilt approval for the site would together allow a minimum of about 197 units. The applicant is asking for 400, meaning more than 200 additional units would be left to the Planning Commission's discretion. An attorney representing the developer told committee members the applicant would present expert testimony arguing the site is well suited to that level of density.
Traffic, fire access among the open issues
Committee members representing the fire department, police department and town engineering office raised a series of concerns that staff said the applicant must address before the project can move to the next review stage, known as preliminary plan:
- A full traffic study with an independent peer review, including a look at whether a stretch of roadway serving as the main site entrance should have two exit lanes instead of one.
- Whether a currently unused stretch of roadway on the property, once open to regular traffic decades ago, could be reopened as a second point of entry and exit — a change the fire department and the town's Department of Public Works both said would help emergency vehicles reach the development. In written comments submitted because he could not attend, DPW's Kevin McGee said the old access point should be reopened for emergency use.
- Whether ladder trucks would be able to reach all five buildings, some of which show parking directly in front with no clear space for fire apparatus to stage.
- Building height, which the applicant's team said would top out around 66 feet, under the 75-foot threshold that would trigger stricter high-rise fire codes.
- How the roughly 100 affordable units would be distributed among the five buildings and what income levels they would serve.
The developer's team said it had already submitted supplemental materials on the affordable-housing breakdown and a unit-by-bedroom matrix, and agreed to work with the fire department before the Planning Commission hearing to resolve outstanding access and apparatus questions.
A smaller item on the agenda
Earlier in the meeting, the committee reviewed a separate, unrelated application for an accessory dwelling unit — a smaller secondary home on an existing residential lot — where the owner is seeking a variance to exceed the town's 20% maximum lot coverage limit. Staff said the added structure and a driveway extension would push total lot coverage to nearly 31%. Committee members had no additional comments on that request, which also heads to the Planning Commission on July 22.
What's next
Both items are scheduled for a public hearing before the Coventry Planning Commission on July 22. The technical committee's written comments will be included in the staff report for that meeting, where residents can weigh in directly on the housing proposal and the accessory-unit variance.