Expansion Plans for Osborn Home Come Out of Retirement
UPDATE: As of Wednesday afternoon, the public hearing and presentation by The Osborn has been delayed until the next council meeting on Wednesday, April 6th.
Future expansion plans for The Osborn senior living community will come out of retirement this Wednesday evening at Rye City Council. In November 2018, The Osborn petitioned the City to amend the City’s zoning code to allow for expanded development on its 56 acres campus in a bid to keep up in the competitive senior living industry.
Now called The Osborn’s Envision initiative, the new site diagram shows nine new buildings on the campus ranging from 2 to 5 floors with a total of 525,000 square feet. The proposal had been on hold since last spring after a three hour council meeting attended by one hundred residents objecting to changing viewshed, loss of trees and open space, increased traffic and years of construction.
“It is our strong belief that the Amendment before the Council, which has been subject to years of discussion, is a well-considered piece of legislation benefitting from the input from neighbors, the City Council, the Planning Commission, City staff, and expert consultants,” said Osborn outside counsel Steve Wrabel of McCullough, Goldberger & Staudt, LLP in a letter to the City Council sent last Wednesday.
The Osborn is returning with responses to various comments and questions from last Spring as well as a “campus perimeter concept planting planting plan” designed to show pre- and -post development changes in viewsheds from Osborn Road, Theall Road and the Boston Post Road.
There is work to be done to win over local residents. In a letter to City Council Monday, Osborn Road residents Sean and Catherine Plummer said they were expressing “our family’s strong opposition to the proposed zoning change to The Osborn. We continue to believe that our lives, our homes and our enjoyment of our neighborhood will be negatively impacted by the proposed zoning increase.”
If approved, the new zoning rules will then allow The Osborn to present its site development plans to the Planning Commission for approval.
Watch the City Council Wednesday at 6:30pm. And learn more:
- The Osborn Envision plan documents being presented at City Council Wednesday
- Previous documents regarding The Osborn Zoning Amendment
- The Osborn’s Envision initiative from The Osborn website
