Copyright Hartford Courant
It’s shaping up as a particularly adversarial case. East Granby’s planning and zoning commission will soon be deciding whether to let a large New Jersey-based commercial real estate developer build 700,000 square feet of warehouse space on former farmland near Bradley International Airport. The Silverman Group’s proposal to develop part of its 134-acre parcel on Rainbow Road has drawn enough public opposition that a lengthy hearing last month had to be extended to Nov. 17 so more residents could speak. So far, emails and letters to the zoning board have run almost exclusively against the plan. Public discontent with recent industrial buildup has been brewing for years, with residents complaining that large corporations are getting too much latitude to change the rural nature of their town. A few critics focused their criticism on First Selectman Eden Wimpfheimer, saying her administration has favored wealthy business developers over homeowners. Wimpfheimer consistently rejected those arguments, but on Tuesday residents voted her out of office in favor of Democrat Jason Hayes, who made the matter a key campaign issue. His website cited three chief complaints with her leadership, including “An unfair and unsustainable reliance on overburdened homeowners paying an absurd portion toward our tax base (and) no substantial town plan to protect East Granby from becoming an industrial airport border.” “The 65% tax abatement being proposed by the first selectwoman is for a five-year period. This is a horrific proposal. Why would we give a multi-billion-dollar company already trying to build these massive warehouses in our town a 65% tax break?,” Hayes said in a Facebook post during the campaign. Wimpfheimer promptly disputed that account, saying it was the economic development commission, not her office, that came up with the new incentive plan. “Regarding abatements, the Silverman Group has not requested one. Even if a request were made, the town is under no obligation to grant it,” she wrote. At issue is whether Silverman can construct two mega-warehouses on its property, one of 400,000 square feet and the other of 300,000. Silverman said it wants to build both warehouses without pre-signing tentants. “Construction is anticipated to begin in 2026 and be complete before the end of 2027,” it wrote in its zoning application. “As an end user has not been identified, it is feasible that the project will be phased.” Wimpfheimer noted that a financial study concluded the warehouses could, when taxed at full value, pay about 2% of the town’s current annual taxes. “Based on comparable industrial properties in the area, this development would generate an estimated $1,708,665 in annual property tax revenue for East Granby. This significant increase to the town’s tax base would help fund essential public services and potentially reduce the tax burden on residents without requiring substantial additional municipal services,” wrote Shawn McMahon of Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc. But numerous residents are calling on East Granby to put the revenue question aside. “We acknowledge the need for appropriate commercial growth, and we are not opposed to all development. We could certainly support smaller warehousing or facilities that are not designed to serve the high-volume, 24/7 shipping and logistics purpose for which these structures are architected,” Jeffrey Hecht told town planners in an email. “We are being asked to trade the peace, stability of property values, and quality of life for our neighbors for a marginal tax benefit. This is an unacceptable trade-off, and we must not approve a development based solely on its cash flow,” he wrote. “Furthermore, Mr. Silverman is not a local business owner with intrinsic ties to our community; he is an outside developer proposing the exact same, highest-profit, maximum-speed model common in industrial real estate,” he wrote. “This is about quick returns, not long-term community partnership. If Mr. Silverman is unwilling to engage in genuine compromise, he is simply not the right developer for our town.”
