LEVERETT — Should redevelopment of the estate built for late Yankee Candle founder Michael J. Kittredge II move forward, those living in the future homes and apartments could access amenities including a trout pond, an indoor water park, an arcade and tennis courts, and manicured greenspace and wooded areas.

As a resident who grew up on Juggler Meadow Road in a home where her mother still lives, Jill Franks said such a project, resembling a planned community in Florida, is not something she would welcome.

“This is an outsider’s vision,” Franks said. “This is not Leverett.”

Franks was among around 100 people who gathered in the Leverett Elementary School gymnasium on Wednesday for a two-hour Planning Board meeting to learn about the preliminary plans for turning the 60-acre estate, on the market for $23 million since the summer of 2022, into a housing development, potentially with 700 or more units.

There were nearly 100 more participants via Zoom, posting periodic written comments when the audio malfunctioned. Zoom initially reached capacity, possibly preventing even more people from joining via computers or phones.

Joshua Wallack, development manager for the Juggler Meadow Estate as it is called, provided an overview of the plans, with illustrations showing that the bulk of the homes would be in Leverett on the property that is bounded by Amherst and Juggler Meadow roads, and railroad tracks to the west, with some of the development in Amherst.

“We’re interested in creating a multi-family project on a part of Leverett and Amherst that can use these amazing amenities built by Michael Kittredge,” said Wallack, who has handled commercial and residential projects in Florida. Wallack is working on behalf of Michael J. “Mick” Kittredge III, the late Kittredge’s son and the founder of Kringle Candle in Bernardston.

Though not formal site plans, the concepts, from Chris Ritter of Ritter Design Studio in Brookline show homes tightly bunched along both existing and new roads, with the large spa building at the center and an extensive septic field, for an already cleared area, removed and replaced with homes. There would be two access points from Amherst Road and one from Juggler Meadow Road. Only a small number of trees would be removed.

“The property is yearning for families and children running through it and playing on it,” Wallack said.

Comparing it to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, or places where American business magnates like John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt could have lived, Wallack said Juggler Meadow is a one-of-a-kind property where the elder Kittredge used to entertain his guests, sometimes thousands of people at a time.

“A luxury hotel has nothing on this place,” Wallack said.

Before a formal submission is made to the town, Wallack said the “best” real estate minds and data-driven studies will determine the course of action and the number of units.

“It’s so important we get this right,” Wallack said. “I do realize this is an extremely large-scale project, but we have an extremely large-scale housing shortage.”

With Leverett in the midst of drafting a comprehensive master plan that will provide a vision of the town’s future, Wallack said the project could serve to meet both economic development and housing components of the plan.

Many uncertainties

Still, the exact process for how such a redevelopment happens comes with many uncertainties.

“There’s different ways this could go,” said Planning Board Chair Tom Ewing, adding that any construction of new homes, apartments or condominiums is likely several years out.

If a filing is made under the state’s Chapter 40B law that allows affordable housing to be built without adhering to local zoning regulations, then it would be the Zoning Board of Appeals, not the Planning Board, that would provide guidance through a comprehensive permit.

Many of the concerns from residents centered on infrastructure, including how bringing in so many new residents would impact the rural roads, both in Leverett and Amherst.

Wes Goscenski of Long Plain Road said that the short and narrow railroad bridge on Juggler Meadow Road, already posing challenges for school buses, would likely need to be improved at a cost of millions of dollars. Similarly, Sarah Bing-Owen, of Juggler Meadow Road, wrote in the Zoom comments that fixing the windy road would be necessary.

Wallack pledged that the developers would cover these costs, as well as pay Amherst for extending sewer lines, which currently only come as far north as Pine Street in the Cushman section of town, almost 1½ miles south of the property.

He also anticipates tremendous financial windfall to Leverett from property taxes.

With a potential significant increase in population — Leverett has about 1,900 residents now — how to handle an enrollment surge at Leverett Elementary School was another question posed. Wallack suggested that there is room in Amherst’s schools, though the town’s regional agreement with Amherst, Shutesbury and Pelham is only at the secondary level.

Jed Proujansky of Richardson Road said such a plan would be unacceptable.

“Leverett residents, Leverett students, have a right to go to school in Leverett,” Proujansky said.

Others called the scope of the project antithetical to Leverett values, with such development contributing to global climate change, and also a dramatic change from when the wooded land was first developed for single-family homes along Amherst Road in the 1960s and 1970s, and even for a period of time in the 1970s and ’80s when a portion of the property was home to the Ant Rockies commune.

Robert Sieruta of Depot Road said he would like details about how many of the homes would be set aside for low-income residents, while Harry Wilson of Dudleyville Road asked whether more of the development could be pushed into Amherst.

Wallack said the intent is for the bulk of the homes to be in Leverett. “Leverett gets most of it,” he said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.