Planning officials are seeking public input on the potential development of the Cross and Vitti Streets area—a section of town that’s been called “ripe for change.”
Led by consultants including Peter Flinker of Ashfield, Mass.-based Dodson & Flinker, the open community meeting—or “public design charette,” as it’s being called—will welcome participants between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in the lower level of New Canaan Library. Residents, business owners and other New Canaanites are invited to attend.
“The idea is to really guide the long-term outlook for that area,” said Town Planner Steve Kleppin, who will join the consultants and members of the Plan of Conservation and Development Implememtation Committee at the meeting. “If change happens—and in my opinion it will, we’ve already started to see it—how will it develop in the future?
The Planning & Zoning Commission last fall approved one new mixed-use building that’s expected to anchor a streetscape that could see more retail-and-residential structures worked into the Cross-Vitti band, historically home to New Canaan’s “service core,” Kleppin said.
While planning officials want to preserve and protect as much of that as possible, they also want to guide how changes to the area unfold.
The recently updated POCD calls for the town to evaluate the zoning for Cross and Vitti Streets.
“We are seeing increased interest in development in and around the downtown and feel Cross and Vitti Streets have great potential for change,” says a bulletin posted on the town website. “Our goal is to guide change in a manner that benefits you and the entire town.”
Please note the meeting is scheduled for Saturday April 25th!