- Council’s decision to revise project’s layout could prompt
owners to sell land
by COREY YOUNG, Staff Writer
The developers who planned to turn the old Windsor Feed Store
site into a live/work project may drop their plans because the Town
Council ordered revisions to the site layout.
Property owner Jon Jernigan said the original proposal for a
large commercial building and 10 apartments above retail spaces
makes better use of the oddly shaped piece of property near
downtown. He said the council’s proposal to add a road along the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad tracks would arrange the buildings in
a tighter configuration.
“That road could present difficulties” in making the rest of the
project fit, said Jernigan. Rather than revise the plan, he said he
and his partners “will probably sell the property or something like
that.”
The project, known as Woodstone Village, has been in the
planning stages for about two years, said Windsor Planning Director
Peter Chamberlin.
The council ordered modifications to the site plan because the
former Windsor Feed and Supply building was knocked down in January
without proper permits.
The old feed store building was supposed to be part of the new
project and possibly home to a winery, town officials said.
Developers argued that not much of the original building, built in
the 1920s, could be saved, and a similar new building would be
constructed in its place.
The loss of the building opened the door for alternate site
layouts to be considered, and at an April 2 meeting the council
said it would like to see a road included as part of a new
plan.
Jernigan said his preference would be for the council to either
allow the original plan to move forward or revoke its approval of
the project.
“We’re still under the impression that the first option is the
better one,” he said. At the April 2 Town Council meeting, project
proponents said the old feed store building could still be
recreated in line with the architecture and designs previously
approved by the council.
If the project were to continue, a new site plan would be
reviewed by the council to expedite the process, said Chamberlin.
He said the town was not aware the developers had plans to drop the
project.
