Commission approves zoning change and special permit for Aspire Living and Learning at former Hubble campus

The Orange Town Plan and Zoning Commission on June 16 approved a zoning text amendment and a special exception permit allowing Aspire Living and Learning, Inc., to use the former Hubble campus at 584 Derby Milford Road as a nonprofit school serving students with emotional, intellectual and developmental disabilities and a transition program for young adults.

Attorney Joe Williams, representing Aspire, told the commission the roughly 47-acre campus already operated as a university campus under a prior special permit and that Aspire plans only interior renovations. “It’s important work in educating and training young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and empowering them to lead independent lives,” Williams said, describing the proposed K–12 program and additional training for adults. He also noted expected transportation would rely on small vehicles: “The students will be brought to and from the school in groups by minivan, not by large buses.”

Commissioners voted first to adopt a narrowly tailored text amendment to Article 11B of the Orange zoning regulations adding a special-permit use for nonprofit schools serving people with emotional, intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Office Park District; the commission set an effective date for the amendment of June 26, 2026. With the new use in place, the commission then approved Aspire’s application for a special exception permit for 584 Derby Milford Road, granted requested waivers of the site-plan and architectural submittal requirements and of soil-erosion submissions (citing no proposed exterior site work), and set the permit to take effect July 8, 2026.

The application states the site will require only interior renovations and that existing utilities and lighting are adequate. Aspire and its counsel represented that traffic and neighborhood impacts will be comparable to the prior university use and that student transport will be by minivan groups rather than large school buses. The commission recorded no public objections during the hearing and voted in favor of both the text amendment and the special permit.