A nonprofit organization that has served New Canaan for decades is commissioning a study to determine demand for senior housing in town, officials say. Due to conclude within about one month, the study forms part of a larger effort to help meet the need for diverse senior housing in New Canaan, according to Russell Barksdale, Jr., president and CEO of Waveny LifeCare Network. Members of the organization—which includes Waveny Care Center, The Village and The Inn, as well as outpatient and day programs—already have presented to residential real estate brokers to get feedback on one- and two-bedroom apartment styles and layouts that would help a senior “move in and age in place and hopefully never move again,” Barksdale said.
Waveny will continue to solicit feedback from local experts, residents and officials as it looks closely at three parcels of land in New Canaan that may be right for senior housing development, he said, including neighbors of those properties.
“There may be others look at and consider,” Barksdale said.
“The expectation is we will go, before choosing, to meet with the town and go over and meet with neighbors to make sure they can support what we are thinking about doing. So this is not something where we will design it and lay it out and close on the land and then go to [Planning & Zoning] to push it through. This is something where we are going to be inclusive of all the community and give everyone an opportunity to look at it, talk about it, neighbors, look at plans and drawings and make sure before go to P&Z to have input and support to do what we want to do and what we believe is the need for the area.”
Asked what is the range in the number of units Waveny is thinking about creating, Barksdale said the completed market plan and demand study will help determine that figure.
