Highland Ridge/St. Anne’s Golf Course
There are no new reports on Aurora Rosa’s first development of 519 acres, 456 age-restricted housing units and an 18-hole golf course. Although the development was approved by the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission (IWWC) and the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) in the summer of 2006, the recession and national and local real estate market problems may be delaying the development or the sale of the project to another developer by Mr. Tony Silano. The project still needs the approval of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Aurora Estates
In December 2007, the developer delivered a new application containing 123 age-restricted dwellings and 177 unrestricted units to the IWWC and the P&Z. The IWWC approved the development at their April 24, 2008 meeting. At their May 27, 2008 meeting, the P&Z rejected this second application of 300 condominiums.

At the P&Z meeting held on June 9, 2008, the applicant presented a “concept plan,” reducing the number of units. The developer presented a new plan that called for 100 age-restricted units to be built at the northern end of the development, in essence becoming a part of the Highland Ridge development that had already been approved. Another 125 unrestricted units would be built at the southern portion of the development.

This new plan was approved by the P&Z on November 24, 2008, thus resolving a lawsuit filed by the applicant in Litchfield Superior Court in early June. Mr. Silano had filed suit against the Town of Winchester after the P&Z had denied the first application on May 27, 2008.

Despite the poor real estate market, Mr. Silano is apparently very confident he will find buyers for these homes. He was quoted in early January he plans to break ground on the first phase of Aurora Estates in late spring of this year.