News

Documents: Weed Street Homeowner Demos 192-Year-Old Barn without a Permit

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The owner of a Weed Street home has applied for an after-the-fact permit to demolish a ca. 1830-built barn on the property. Kimberly Quinn on May 10 filed an Application To Demolish an “accessory barn located in rear of the property” at 694 Weed St. with the New Canaan Building Department, according to a copy of the application on file at Town Hall. In a March 30 letter to the Building Department that forms part of a file reviewed by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request, Quinn said she had been planning to renovate the 192-year-old barn but found “extensive termite damage as well as foundation issues.”

Quinn hired New Fairfield-based Alexander & Sons Contractor LLC as general contractor on the project and decided to have that company also carry out the demolition, she said.

Government

‘Hire Quality Contractors’: Two More Non-Permitted Demolitions in New Canaan

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The New Canaan Building Department has received two applications for demolition jobs after-the-fact, one for a garage on Oak Street and another for what officials are calling a significant interior demolition on West Road. The non-permitted demolition at 534 West Road covers the interior of an entire wing of the 1928-built, 5,779-square-foot Colonial there, officials said. That work appears to have been done by an owner of the home, purchased last May for $1,950,000, according to tax records. The garage at 64 Oak St., a property that sold in March for $3,350,000, appears to have been done by a non-local contractor, officials said. New Canaan Chief Building Official Brian Platz urged homeowners to work with reputable contractors and check in with his office to ask any questions about what requires a permit.

News

‘Captain Jack LLC’ To Replace Windows on Seven Heritage Hill Road Units; New Construction Planned for Devonwood Lane

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Town officials on Tuesday issued seven building permits to a local man’s limited liability company that rapidly purchased 19 of the brick condominium units on Heritage Hill Road, causing concern among some owners there. The permits call for the installation of 71 vinyl replacement windows throughout seven of the Oenoke Association units, at a total cost of $58,946. Captain Jack LLC since the start of 2016 has spent more than $6.7 million acquiring 19 of the 1960s- and ‘70s-built condo units, land records show. It isn’t clear whether the units approved for building permits are to be sold. Realtors commenting on NewCanaanite.com have cautioned that if one party owns more than 10 percent of all units, the complex itself becomes unwarrantable with regard to conventional lending.

Around Town

With Drop in Revenue from Building Permits, Town Department Streamlines Staffing

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Fees collected through building permits have seen an overall decline recently, so the town department that issues them will operate with fewer staff members than usual for now, officials said Tuesday. The New Canaan Building Department will hold open a full-time position once an inspector leaves at year’s end and a part-time worker’s hours have been reduced from 20 to 10 per week, Chief Building Official Brian Platz told members of the Board of Selectmen during their regular meeting. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi and Platz both have seen a steady decline in the issuance of those permits that generate revenue for the town and worked together on a plan to staff accordingly. “We certainly have not fallen off any cliffs,” Platz said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “I don’t think there is any cause for alarm.”

Total fees collected through building permits through the first three quarters of this calendar year are down nearly 30 percent from the same period in 2015, from about $1 million to $708,000, according to Building Department data.

Business

Gower Road Ranch Demolished; Embody Fitness Gourmet Plans $125,000 Interior Fit-Out on Forest

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The New Canaan Building Department on Monday issued a demolition permit for the new owner of a 1949 ranch on Brooks Road to raze the house. The .28-acre lot was purchased for $850,000 in September by a limited partnership out of Greenwich. It isn’t clear what will replace the home that had stood there—the town has not yet received a building permit application for the parcel. The contractor on the $30,000 demo is AC&S Excavating Contractors out of Pound Ridge, N.Y.

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The developer of the mixed-use retail-and-residential complex ‘Heritage Square’ that’s going up on Forest Street on Tuesday put in for a $125,000 interior fit-out for the future home of Embody Fitness Gourmet. The healthy foods provider will occupy one of two retail spaces on street-level in the high-demand complex—Pet Valu will occupy the other.