Cheshire Planning and Zoning Unanimously Approves Farm Venue Text Amendment

Planning and Zoning · Meeting of June 8, 2026

Cheshire Planning and Zoning votes unanimously to allow farm wedding venues under amended zoning text. The commission approved a petition by DEWC LLC, now operating as Kelly Farms LLC, to amend Sections 3.4 and 3.8 of the town's zoning regulations at its June 8 meeting, opening a regulatory pathway for indoor event venues on farms of 25 or more contiguous acres located on a state highway, provided at least 60 percent of the acreage is placed under a permanent development restriction. Applicant William Cunningham, who purchased the former Norton Brothers Fruit Farm on Academy Road for $5,050,000, described plans for a timber-frame indoor venue capped at 275 attendees, a limit the commission negotiated and added to the amendment on the floor, with a $2.5 million conservation easement to be funded by the town, the state, and potentially the Cheshire Land Trust.

Attorney Christopher Russo of Pullman and Comley represented the applicant. Neighbors near the property raised pointed objections to the application's original language, noting it would have expanded the outdoor event calendar from 78 days a year to 365 and eliminated the existing three-events-per-week cap; the commission reverted the outdoor regulations to their current parameters as a condition of approval. The amendment as passed applies to only two eligible Cheshire properties: Kelly Farms and Hickory Orchards.

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Source: the Planning and Zoning meeting of June 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.