CREC Plans to Purchase Remaining Acres of the Avon Cider Mill Site

The Capitol Region Education Council has withdrawn its applications for a subdivision on the site for its proposed Reggio Magnet School of the Arts and to increase the maximum lot coverage allowance from 10 to 15 percent.

Instead, the education council is putting forward a new application for the magnet school: to request that the remaining property, about 1.4 acres, be rezoned from an NB commercial zone to match the rest of the 59 Waterville Rd. site as an R2UA residential zone. There will be a public hearing for the zone change proposal at Tuesday's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Avon Senior Center, as the meetings have been well attended.

"Over the summer, CREC was in negotiations with Dr. Roy Beebe to purchase all of his property," Avon Town Planner Steven Kushner said. 

Originally, the council's plan was to purchase between 8 and 9 acres of land from Dr. Roy Beebe on 59 Waterville Rd., leaving him the yellow buildings behind Avon Cider Mill, upon approval of all the necessary applications to build.

But since the building footprint took up about 11 percent of the property, just missing the maximum requirement in an RU2A zone, the education council approached Beebe about purchasing the remaining land to bypass applying for a special exception to that zoning regulation and a property subdivision.

With the added acreage, that brings the total building to just over 10 acres, decreasing the building lot coverage to under the 10 percent mark.

There is no guarantee, Kushner said, that the commission will vote on the application Tuesday, but if it is approved, the education council will submit a revised site plan to the commission that includes the added property and any adjustments. Kushner said that the land purchase-sale agreement will not likely change anything about the proposed building design. 

That new application would then be reviewed at the commission's Oct. 6 meeting. 

Meanwhile, the education council and the commission still face a lawsuit filed by owners of the neighboring 45 Waterville Rd. property, Avon resident Joseph F. Delbone and Canton resident John P. Delbone.

The Delbones contest the original zone change of the larger portion of the Avon Cider Mill site.

"The Plaintiffs are aggrieved by the Commission's decision in that the zone change and amendment are likely to lower property values in the adjacent NB zoned areas of which Plaintiffs are the owners because NB commercial uses will be limited due to the proximity of a school," the legal documents for the case state.

The education council intends to continue the application process regardless of the lawsuit, Bruce Douglas, executive director of the education council, previously said. If the plan is approved, it's full steam ahead to begin construction even if litigation is pending.

In order to meet its September 2013 deadline to open the school, Douglas said the education council hopes groundbreaking will start by June 2012 at the latest.