Roger Sherman Inn

Recent Articles

Republican Candidates for Town Council Face Off in Second Debate

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Republican candidates for Town Council offered their views on on some of the town’s most controversial planning and zoning applications during the Republican Town Committee’s second candidates’ debate held at Town Hall Wednesday. Currently there are six Republican candidates for Town Council: Roy Abramowitz, Tom Butterworth, Mike Mauro, Rich Townsend and incumbents Penny Young and John Engel. They are jockeying for seats opening up on the Town Council this fall and thus are seeking party backing. When asked for his opinion on the Planning & Zoning Commission’s recent approval of the Merritt Village redevelopment downtown, Engel, who missed the first RTC debate in June, said, “Real estate is what I do—and I have a deep understanding of the Merritt Village project.”

“Number one, I respect the process,” he said of the recent approval. “We heard earlier that the Town Council doesn’t get involved in what P&Z should do—just like the first selectmen doesn’t tell them what to do—and I don’t think we should have a thumb on the scale with P&Z. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Government, News, Election 2017, Grace Farms, John Engel, Merritt Village, Michael Mauro, Mike Mauro

Owner, Would-Be Developer of Roger Sherman at Odds Over Inn’s Future

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Though he has filed the necessary paperwork to appeal the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision to deny a redevelopment plan for the Roger Sherman Inn, builder Andrew Glazer is in no position to do so, the property and business owner said. According to Nes Jaffre, Glazer had been contract purchaser of the property under an agreement that ended Feb. 28. “We do not have any contract with Andy and he has no business at all doing anything regarding this property,” she told NewCanaanite.com. “I am spending all my efforts and time building this business, and really this has got to stop.”

Meanwhile, Glazer in an Op-Ed published in NewCanaanite.com, conceded that he needs the Jaffres’ support to pursue an appeal in earnest. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Government, News, Andrew Glazer, Nes Jaffre, Roger Sherman Inn

Op-Ed: Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Makes a Case for Pursuing Appeal of P&Z Denial

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I want to clarify some of the statements that have been made regarding our possible appeal of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s rejection of our plans for the Roger Sherman. As I have written before, I went to contract on the Roger Sherman with the understanding and support from commission members and the town planner for the project. The contract I signed was non-contingent on zoning approval, meaning my money was at risk if I was turned down. The owners who had been trying to sell for over four years and were tired of trying to maintain a tough business and infrastructure wanted to move on. They priced it at the highest and best use, which was housing. Continue Reading →

Filed under: News, Opinion, Andrew Glazer, Roger Sherman Inn

Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Inn Is Appealing P&Z’s Denial, Town Planner Says; Timing of Legal Filing in Question

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Making good on his word following the town’s denial last month of a plan to redevelop the Roger Sherman Inn property, a Norwalk developer has filed an appeal of the decision in Superior Court, town officials said Tuesday night. The New Canaan town clerk on Monday received an appeal of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision, according to Town Planner Steve Palmer. Palmer told members of P&Z during their regular meeting that “it was surprising to receive it [Monday] because Friday the 21st was the end of the 15-day appeal period and the Town Clerk got it yesterday.”

“I was relieved that it came in Monday, but there is still a question of whether it was timely because it may have been in the marshal’s hand in that 15-day period, and there may have been some grace period that is given by the statutes that allows them not to deliver it in 15 days to the town, so [Town Attorney] Ira [Bloom] is researching that. Andrew Glazer of Glazer Group told NewCanaanite.com that he would appeal P&Z’s decision immediately after the group on March 28 denied his application by a 7-2 vote. Glazer had sought to redevelop the property at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road with six single-family homes, and said during an interview just after P&Z’s denial that he was especially disappointed because he had received encouragement from some commissioners to proceed when his plan first came down from eight to seven units, in the fall. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Government, News, Andrew Glazer, Planning & Zoning Commission, Roger Sherman Inn, Steve Palmer

‘A Small Purchase of Books’: Roger Sherman Inn as New Canaan’s First Library

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“The people in this place have agreed, many of them, to set up a library and are collecting money to make a small purchase of books.” —from a Jan. 16, 1790 letter from the Rev. Justus Mitchell of New Canaan to Roger Sherman, his wife’s uncle

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Perhaps no commercial enterprise in New Canaan has garnered as much attention in recent months as the Roger Sherman Inn. For good reason. Since hitting the market at $6 million three summers ago, the Oenoke Ridge Road restaurant and inn has been the subject of wide speculation. After lingering on the market for years, a well-known developer materialized last fall as the property’s “contract purchaser,” with a plan to create eight (later modified to six) homes on a 1.8-acre property that, as-of-right, would have just one. Continue Reading →

Filed under: 0684-Old, News, Town Living, Mary Louise King, New Canaan Historical Society, Roger Sherman Inn