A $4-million land sale the selectmen are putting up for public scrutiny is designed to allow 30 age-restricted condominiums on 10 acres, while gaining back more than half of what taxpayers spent to buy the Schlumberger property.
“We’ll certainly be soliciting comment from the general public,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said Monday.
The public hearing on the selectmen’s proposed sale to the construction firm Toll Brothers is Wednesday, April 23, at 7:30 in town hall.
The sale would only take place if it is approved by voters. After next week’s hearing, the deal is on the agenda of the May 5 Annual Town Meeting for discussion, and is expected to go to a machine vote as part of the May 13 budget referendum.
At the hearing the selectmen will explain the sale they’re proposing to voters, Toll Brothers will outline development plans for the site and citizens may comment on the proposed sale and the development plans.
“We will present the agreement as it now stands with Toll Brothers,” Mr. Marconi said Monday.
“Toll Brothers will also be present with several elevations of their buildings, and a site plan so that people can certainly observe what this project will look like, and ask any questions they may have relative to the construction and sale of this land.”
The contract agreement the selectman reached with Toll Brothers is available for scrutiny at town hall in the first selectman’s office and the town clerk’s office.
Mr. Marconi reviewed the major points of the deal, which was approved 4-to-1 by the Board of Selectmen.
“All of this is subject to planning and zoning approval,” he said. “That’s the one contingency that Toll Brothers has asked for.”
The price is $4 million, and the land the town would be selling is off the north side of Sunset Lane.
“The property is approximately 10 acres, and this project will consume approximately 50% of those acres,” Mr. Marconi said.
“There will be a total of 30 units. Each building will have two to four units.”
Two age restrictions on the planned development are designed to protect the town against added school costs.
“At least one person has to be 55 years of age, or older,” Mr. Marconi said. “And no one under the age of 18 is allowed to live in the complex for a period of time greater than three months in any 12-month period.”
The dissenter in the selectmen’s 4-to-1 vote to approve the sale was Selectwoman Barbara Manners. She was concerned that condominium units would be too expensive for most Ridgefielders.
The projected market price was part of the selectmen’s talks with Toll Brothers, but only informally.
“Original discussions had unit costs averaging at about $720,000,” Mr. Marconi said. “But there is no contractual obligation to this number.”
For the four selectmen who approved the deal, Mr. Marconi said, the goal was to recover some of the investment taxpayers made in the purchase of the 45-acre Schlumberger property — a $6 million sales price plus another $1 million for related costs.
“The Board of Selectmen very consciously moved forward with a project that would give the greatest return to the town,” Mr. Marconi said. “That’s what this project is. It is an effort to recoup some of the $7 million dollars that the people of Ridgefield voted to spend to buy the Schlumberger property.”
In December the town recovered $1.25 million off its Schlumberger costs, selling five acres off Old Quarry Road to developer Steve Zemo for a hotel site.