Berlin approves cohousing proposal

Berlin has given the go-ahead to the controversial Sawyer Hill cohousing development.

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved the 68-unit development by a 3-2 vote Wednesday night. Its chairman, Emerson Chandler, cast the deciding vote, although he had long questioned the project.

Earlier in the evening, the board voted, 3-2, against the project. Chandler then decided to switch his vote, saying he wanted to spare everyone a lengthy appeal process. He said that because the board was not unanimous in its rejection, the developers would probably succeed in persuading the state to overrule the decision.

"It was a very fine balancing act and I'm not satisfied with the outcome, but there was no other prudent way to go," Chandler said.

Jennifer Wiley-Cordone of Clinton, who sits on the Sawyer Hill board of directors, was shocked and delighted. Her group has been meeting with the appeals board since the project was officially unveiled in March.

"We were just watching the project go down the drain. I was on the edge of my seat," she said. "Everybody was fair and reasonable in the end ."

The complex will consist of two distinct neighborhoods, Mosaic Commons and Camelot Cohousing . Each will include 34 housing units and its own common community spaces. The development will sit on 65 acres, 55 of which once belonged to Bigelow Nurseries.

Proposed under the states Chapter 40B affordable housing law, the project will add 17 affordable units to the town's existing 43, with 12 going to Berlin residents or employees.

Among the conditions required by the board are $115,000 to upgrade Sawyer Hill Road, and continued testing of neighbors' wells to ensure the project does not hurt their water supplies.

Wiley-Cordone said she hopes construction can begin in the fall, with completion a year later.