Appeal denied on reopening of Bromley Brook as a senior living center

Andrew McKeever

GNAT-TV News Project

MANCHESTER —  An appeal of a permit that would return the building that last housed the Bromley Brook School to its roots as a senior citizens residential living has been denied by the Development Review Board.

The appeal, filed by Manchester resident Kate Heaton along with a group of nine other residents of the town, raised concerns about whether the proposed use as a senior residential or assisted senior living facility is authorized in the farming and rural residential district where the former Bromley Brook building sits.

“We’re appealing because the administrative permit that was issued was issued for a residential care facility,” David Cooper, an attorney for Heaton and the other appellants, told the members of the Development Review Board at a meeting of the board held on Wednesday, March 29. “When I go to the farming and rural residential district, I don’t see a residential care facility listed  as a permitted or conditional use.”

However, in its decision, issued on March 31, the DRB held that a nursing home was an allowed use in that district.

“As long as the property is used as a facility in which highly skilled nursing and residential care is provided to people with chronic physical or mental impairments, the use is allowed under the Zoning Bylaws,” the DRB’s opinion stated.

The opinion also stated that Hurley acted appropriately by issuing an “administrative review” of the permit application when it was first presented to her in early February. Since the building was reverting back to its original use as a senior residential facility, and the allowed or conditional uses in the farming and rural residential district had not changed since then, the permit application didn’t require a full review by the development review board.

Mary Norman and Phil Dunn, the prospective new buyers for the building which has been closed since 2011, have received a permit to reopen the building as a Level III residential care facility, and are anticipating closing on the purchase in early May.

“I’d like to provide housing for the more independent seniors, who really just want to be part of a community,” Norman said. “I also want to allow people to age here, so when they need, they can have more services, and more care.”

Norman currently operates a senior care facility, The Gardens, in Williamstown, Vt., and said her interest in the possibilities of opening a second facility at Bromley Brook was prompted by her son, who works at Stratton Mountain.

She hopes to be able to able to open part of the structure within 45 days of finalizing the sale of the building, which along with the 10.38 acres it sits on is assessed for $5.53 million on the town’s grand list. That includes an additional house that is part of a 2.5 acre lot separate from the 8.9 acres associated with the former Bromley Brook School building. Three of the five wings of the building only need “cosmetic care” before being ready to reopen, while the other two will require more intensive work, she said in an interview conducted on March 21 at the site. She hopes to have the entire building operational within six months after the purchase is complete, she added.

Norman and Dunn submitted and received a permit to operate a senior residential facility on Feb. 8, 2017. The permit was issued “administratively” by Janet Hurley, the town’s planning and zoning director, based on the fact that there were no changes proposed to the existing site plan or building design and the intended use of the building was reverting back to its original use as a Level III residential care facility. Level III facilities provide nursing overview, but not full-time care. By comparison, a Level IV home would offer neither nursing overview or care.

Known as the Oak Knoll Assisted Living when it was first constructed in the late 1990s on Routes 11/30 near the town line with Winhall, the 66 bed facility failed to attract a sufficient number of residents and closed in 2001. It was purchased by the Center for Scriptural Studies, a religious organization, which planned to operate it as a conference center. However, by 2003 the building was sold again to the Aspen Education Group, which opened the building as the Bromley Brook School. The curriculum was designed to accommodate girls who had difficulty in traditional classroom settings. At the time it closed in 2011, the school had an enrollment of 57 students.

Heaton, who Cooper said during an earlier meeting of the DRB on March 15 “had a similar operation” to what Norman and Dunn were proposing  and potentially might be coming before the board for similar permits. She  therefore had an interest in knowing how similar applications might be interpreted in the future, and filed her appeal on Feb. 28, he  added. During the DRB’s March 15 meeting, Cooper argued that the lack of clarity over exactly what the use was that was being applied for — whether it was a senior residential or a Level III residential care facility — suggested to him that more than an administrative review should have taken place, and presumably run by the entire board.

At the March 29 hearing, Hurley distributed a memorandum which addressed that question.

She stated in the memo that returning the building to its former use as a residential care facility with fewer beds (58) than was the case previously was a less intense use than what was previously permitted, which therefore made it eligible for an administrative approval under the Manchester Land Use ordinances. A new conditional use permit did not require a new conditional use review, she stated.

When originally permitted in 1995, the Oak Knoll facility was approved as a “nursing home,” which was and still are conditional uses in the zoning district, Hurley’s memo stated.

John Thrasher, an attorney working with Norman and Dunn, pointed out to the DRB members during the March 29 hearing that residential care facilities were included in the definition of nursing homes.

“The town has operated since 1992 on the assumption or has interpreted its zoning bylaws for nursing homes to include residential care facilities,” he told the DRB on March 29. “A zoning bylaw does not necessarily have to include every possible use within the town.”

Norman said during the March 15 DRB hearing she planned to open “Bromley Manor,” as she referred to it, in two phases, initially with 30 apartments available, and opening an additional 20 after a second phase of renovations is complete. She anticipated having 15-20  staff members, largely part-time, which translated to about 10 full-time equivalent jobs, she said.

The appeal of the permit was heard by only three of the normally five member DRB. Board members Tim Waker and Ray Ferrarin recused themselves from both the March 15 and March 29 hearings.

The remaining three board members went into an executive session to discuss the appeal, which was made public Friday, March 31.