WASHINGTON, Conn. – As Matthew Klauer looks over the peeling paint and standing puddles at the former Wykeham Rise School, he imagines possibilities. He speaks about reclaiming arched windows and a stone fireplace from the rotting buildings and restoring the property’s wetlands to their natural state. First he needs to win some support.
His proposal to build a 60-unit inn and spa on the Wykeham Road property has riled neighbors, who fear the commercial development will destroy the quiet comfort of their residential community. Klauer hopes he can work with them to help him navigate the town’s land use boards.
“I don’t want this to just be accepted,” Klauer said. “I want this to be embraced by Washington. I want to do something that will make this town really proud.”
Klauer, a 32-year-old New York native, bought the 27-acre property with his parents and sister for $2.75 million in April.
He aims to remove structures and roads from wetlands, create buffers and filters for storm water runoff, use limited lighting, build green roofs and install permeable pavement. Michael Ajello, the town’s zoning enforcement officer, called the preliminary plans “a very sophisticated approach to the environmental issues.”
Klauer said the inn will create 50 jobs, support local businesses and contribute at least three times more than the vacant property’s current property taxes. In response to resident reaction to initial plans, Klauer said he will consult with a local architect “to better represent the rural character” of the town and likely decrease the scale of the development.
“My strategy is to incorporate as much feedback from them as I can,” Klauer said of the neighbors. “So it’s not just my vision, but the town’s vision of this property.”
For Wykeham Road residents like Mary Ewing, the scope of the project would need to be drastically reduced to gain her endorsement. “It’s rather a shock for the community that is not really set up to accommodate an inn or a spa of the size he’s putting in,” Ewing said. “It sounds like he has great ideas. Maybe it’s just not the right place for that.”
Grace Franjola, a resident of Wykeham Road for about 17 years, believes the inn will generate far more traffic, noise and potential trouble than the girl’s school, which housed students in dorms and teachers in onsite residences. She worries about the narrow, winding nature of the road, which she said has caused six accidents in front of her house and led to the deaths of three pets. She worries about customers leaving the inn’s restaurant and bar intoxicated at night.
“He’s incorporating all these green features, but the scope and implementation of his plan are totally inappropriate in this setting,” Franjola said. “Green is his vehicle, but it’s really not his goal. He’s sugarcoating what he wants to shove down our throats.” Klauer said he fell in love with Washington after visiting his sister’s house on East Street, where he’s been staying while spear-heading the project and searching for a place to rent for himself. His father grew up in Norfolk, where his grandparents ran the Mountain View Inn from 1952 to 1968. His grandmother’s family owned and operated an inn in Germany from the late 17th century until just recently.
“It’s like returning to my roots,” Klauer said of the new venture. “The family tradition.” But Franjola sees Klauer as a young, rich outsider trampling on longtime residents. His parents are New York financier Gerold Klauer and Jana Klauer, whose book “How the Rich Get Thin” touts her as “Park Avenue’s Top Diet Doctor.”
“I have shoes older than him,” Frarrjola said. “He’s so earnest and happy. This is his first little project they’ve handed him. Honey, you’ve not lived life long enough to understand the impact on people’s lives and properties and quality of life.” Klauer, who has worked for Paine Webber and UBS with a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia Business School, said his family aims to create an inn to “educate people that green living is noninvasive and very rewarding.”
Neighbor Ewing said she would prefer an arts center to a busy inn. Although she hadn’t met with Klauer yet, she would like to see I compromise. “I hope Matthew is happy with what he ends up with,” she said. “And the community around the building are happy it fits the local character. That would be nice.”
By Rick Harrison – Republican-American