Enfield PZ Approves Major Change For 42-Home Project

ENFIELD, CT — A housing project already taking shape off Brainard Road is set to move forward as a 55-and-older community after the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a trio of related applications Thursday night.

In a series of unanimous votes March 12, the commission signed off on a zone change, a text amendment and a special permit/site plan modification tied to Stonebridge Commons at 242 Brainard Road. The approvals clear the way for Mannarino Builders to convert the previously approved 42-unit multifamily detached-home development into a senior residential development.

The nearly 21-acre property, at the corner of Brainard Road and George Washington Road, had previously been rezoned from R-44 to the Multi-Family Housing District in 2023. Under the new approvals, it will return to the R-44 zone so the age-restricted housing plan can proceed.

Town planning staff said the overall impacts of the switch should be minimal because the development’s basic layout, traffic patterns, public-service demands and environmental conditions are expected to remain essentially the same.

The biggest change is who the homes are meant for.

Under Enfield’s senior residential rules, occupants must generally be at least 55 years old. A spouse may also live there, and one adult child age 21 or older may reside with a parent. Occupancy is limited to three people per unit.

The project had already been approved in another form and is under construction. Records in the application show Stonebridge Commons is being built in two phases, with Phase 1 already underway and several units nearing completion.

To make the senior-housing version work without redesigning the whole neighborhood, the commission also approved text changes to align parts of the town’s senior residential regulations with the standards already used for the multifamily project.

Those amendments reduce the minimum spacing between dwelling units from 30 feet to 20 feet, reduce the minimum spacing between residential buildings from 30 feet to 20 feet, and change the exterior lot-line setback so buildings must be at least 50 feet from the front and rear property lines and at least 35 feet from a side property line.

During the March 12 meeting, there was brief discussion over whether those setback changes were being handled the right way. Planning Director Laurie Whitten said the changes were being made through the text amendment itself, not through special permit flexibility for just a few lots.

Commissioners then moved through the three applications one by one, closing the hearings and approving each.

The special permit approval came with several project-specific conditions.

Among them, the development cannot include detached garages, sheds or other accessory buildings. Decks, lofts and bump-outs are allowed. The project also will be allowed to include some three-car garages, provided they are attached.

Commissioner Linda DeGray also raised concerns about future additions that might not fit with a 55-plus neighborhood, such as fences and playscapes. The applicant said those uses were not intended, and staff indicated those restrictions could be added as part of the development controls.

The commission also discussed home size flexibility. Staff set a maximum building footprint of 3,200 square feet, although there was some debate over whether lot coverage rules alone would have been enough to regulate the final size of each home. The developer said a running chart would be maintained with building permits to track unit size, setbacks and impervious coverage.

One thing the commission did not approve was the applicant’s request for two entrance signs. Staff said current zoning regulations allow only one development identification sign, and there is no waiver available under the current rules. That means the sign proposal would need to be addressed separately.

The development will also include a central mailbox area, which received support from the commission.

The approvals mark the latest turn for a parcel that has gone through several iterations over the years. According to the application materials, the site was approved as a senior residential development in 2006, later shifted to multifamily detached housing after the earlier concept failed to attract a buyer, then was purchased by Mannarino Builders in 2025 and reworked as Stonebridge Commons.

Thursday’s votes now put the project back on track as age-restricted housing, with construction continuing under the newly approved framework.