Plans for over-55 community in Worcester shelved
Courtesy | City of Worcester
757 Salisbury St. in Worcester
A proposed age-restricted housing development at the former Bramble Hill mansion on Salisbury Street has been rejected.
The developer failed to get four votes, the requirement for a special permit from the five-member Planning Board Wednesday.
If approved, the 8,100-square-foot home that was built in 1901 and other structures on the 17-acre property near the Holden town line would have been demolished. A portion of the site would include 123 apartments in three three-story buildings adjacent to an existing senior community where another developer wants to expand the Salisbury Hills community by adding 114 single-family homes.
Board members who opposed the measure said the plan failed to meet the city’s requirements for continuing care retirement communities.
An abuttor said the plan does not include a way for residents to age in place, one of the city’s provisions.
“A true continuing care community would allow just that, but this does not,” he said.
In addition, he said, the project lacks nursing and medical care, needed services as elders age in place.
But Mark Donahue, a lawyer representing the developer, led off the hearing noting the plan does meet the city’s rules.
“For one, it would offer the first age-restricted apartments in Worcester,” he told the panel. “This would allow Worcester seniors to stay in the city and not have to make a down payment for a new home.”
The mansion has been vacant since 2007.
It’s unclear what will happen next.
Donahue could not immediately be reached for comment.
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