Preservation Wins the Night

 

Preservation Wins the Night: Cheshire Zoning Board Unanimously Approves Agritourism Lifeline for Historic Farmland

CHESHIRE, CT — In a packed, emotionally charged meeting on June 8th, the Cheshire Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously passed a crucial zone text amendment, carving out a modern survival strategy for the town’s vanishing agricultural landscape. The decision paves the way for an indoor wedding and event venue at Kelly Farms—the historic 35-acre property formerly known as the Norton Brothers Fruit Farm—marking a dramatic pivot from a previously approved 25-house residential subdivision.

The 5-0 vote represented a classic small-town compromise: granting local entrepreneurs the year-round economic engine they need to keep farming viable, while legally binding them to tighter attendance caps and strict seasonal boundaries to protect the surrounding neighborhoods.

The Pitch: "We are Trying to Save This Farm"

The evening centered around a detailed presentation by applicant Bill Cunningham, principal of Kelly Farms LLC, and his attorney, Christopher Russo of Pullman & Comley. Cunningham, a lifelong Cheshire resident who also runs an insurance group next to Paul’s Restaurant, framed the petition not as a commercial expansion, but as an act of historical triage.

"The headline should be: we are trying to save this farm," Cunningham stated bluntly. "I can’t imagine a fall in Cheshire not driving by and stopping at one or all of our apple orchards... Once this farmland is gone, it’s gone."

Cunningham revealed the staggering economics behind the rescue mission. While the developer purchased the raw land a year and a half ago for $3 million, Kelly Farms bought it out of the subdivision tract for $5.05 million. On top of that, the historic farmhouse requires up to $600,000 in structural repairs, the stripped retail store needs hundreds of thousands to reopen, and there is currently "zero farm equipment" on site—necessitating an immediate $300,000 investment just to get tractors back in the orchard.

To offset these staggering startup costs, the applicants are leveraging a dual-strategy lifeline:

1. Conservation Easement: Collaborating with the town, the state, and the Cheshire Land Trust to permanently sell the property's development rights for an estimated $2.5 million, ensuring the land can never be turned into housing.

2. Adaptive Reuse Revenue: Utilizing a high-end, timber-framed indoor event space to generate the consistent cash flow required to subsidize the volatile fruit farming operation.

The emotional high water mark of the presentation came when Cunningham read a letter from Tim and Tara Perry, the multi-generational operators who ran Norton Brothers for the last 31 years and still live in the closest abutting homes. The Perrys enthusiastically endorsed the project, noting that Tim has been hired by the Cunninghams to remain on the land as the head orchardist. They reminded the crowd that the farm historically hosted hundreds of daily visitors and large outdoor, unbuffered night events for decades.

Neighbor Concerns: The Reality of Living Next Door

Despite overwhelming support on social media, the proposal drew measured resistance and sharp scrutiny from several adjacent homeowners, particularly residents of Judson Court, Richmond Glenn, and Academy Road.

• Traffic and Safety: Peter Grant and Lissa Lennan of Judson Court voiced serious apprehensions regarding concentrated traffic flow. Grant argued that introducing up to 200 cars simultaneously onto roads already flagged by the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) as problematic was a hazard, particularly with impaired drivers leaving receptions late at night.

• The "Happy Path" vs. Legal Reality: Residents noted a significant gap between Cunningham’s quaint "rustic barn" vision and the literal wording of the text amendment. Neighbors warned that loose language could open the door for a future, less community-minded owner—perhaps an out-of-state developer—to exploit the regulations by running unlimited year-round indoor and outdoor events simultaneously.

• Environmental Impact: Michael Moano of Academy Road raised concerns over light pollution from parking areas and potential runoff into the local wetlands, while Ben Mati of Richmond Glenn pressed town officials on whether the area's fragile inland wetlands could handle the wastewater effluent without a dedicated municipal pumping station.

The Agritourism Debate: Factoring the True Cost of Progress

The public comments mirrored a broader regional crisis. Mike Czecheri, a land use lawyer and President of the Cheshire Land Trust, urged the commission to embrace liberal adaptive reuses for agricultural spaces.

"Farming in Connecticut during the 21st century is much more difficult than it was in years gone by," Czecheri explained, citing state data showing that Connecticut's agricultural footprint has shrunk from over 15,000 farms in 1950 to just around 5,500 today. "They are all looking for a lifeline."

Longtime resident Barbara McWarter put the neighborhood disruptions into stark perspective, comparing the scale of a 200-person indoor wedding to the nightly roar, stadium sirens, and chaotic traffic generated by high school football games and fall marketplaces at nearby Bartlem Park.

Taxpayer advocacy also tilted the scales toward approval. Multiple speakers noted that a 25-home subdivision of "McMansions" would yield a massive net financial loss for the town. While those houses would generate roughly $375,000 in property taxes, a projected influx of school-aged children would cost the Board of Education upwards of $800,000 annually to educate—leaving local taxpayers to bridge a permanent $425,000 yearly deficit.

The Decision: A Tightened Compromise

Faced with valid neighbor pushback regarding the loosely worded application, the Planning and Zoning Commission refused to simply stamp approval. Instead, commissioners Tom Natalie and Jeff Strollo engineered a series of restrictive "friendly amendments" right on the floor to weave neighborhood protections directly into the zoning law text:

Regulation Category	Original Proposed Text Amendment	Final Approved Amendment (As Amended)
Indoor Capacity	Limited only by local building/fire code.	Strictly capped at 275 attendees maximum.
Indoor Event Calendar	Allowed year-round.	Allowed year-round.
Outdoor Event Calendar	Expanded to 8 months (April 1 – Nov 30).	Reverted to the existing 6-month limit (May 1 – Oct 31).
Outdoor Event Capacity	Permitted up to 400 people.	Retained 400-person cap, but tied strictly to existing restrictions.

The commission emphasized that this vote was only "Step One" of a two-step approval process. While the textual parameters are now set, Kelly Farms must return to the commission at a later date with a highly detailed, formal site plan to obtain a special permit.

Commissioners assured nervous residents that the upcoming special permit phase will allow the town to micromanage specific neighborhood concerns from the weeds up—including kitchen catering limitations, soundproofing metrics, mandatory vegetative screening, and explicit rules banning simultaneous, unrelated indoor and outdoor functions.

With this unanimous vote, Cheshire has boldly stated that its agricultural heritage is worth protecting, proving that with careful regulation, tradition and modern commercial evolution can successfully share the same soil.