The Country Club of New Canaan is seeking permission from the town to overhaul parts of its golf course.
According to a letter submitted to Planning & Zoning on behalf of CCNC, the club is seeking to alter the course’s “18th hole tee and green locations and reconfiguration of the cart paths”—areas interior to the site that can’t be seen from the road.
“The driving range will be enlarged, regraded and new netting will be installed,” according to a letter that forms part of an application to the Planning & Zoning Commission, authorized by attorney Stephen A. Finn, a partner at Stamford-based Wofsey Rosen. “A new chipping practice area will be constructed in the place of the greenskeeper house.”
The project “will significantly increase the safety of other golfers from users of the driving range and chipping area,” Finn’s letter said. “The current net protection for the range is inadequate and results in practice shots endangering players on the first and second holes. As a result, it is imperative that CCNC provide additional protection for the current facility.”
It’s also “critical” for the club to start the project in September, Finn said in the letter, because the golf course’s designer and construction firm are both available at that time (and then not until 2027-2028) and also because such a start date would mean wrapping up by December as opposed to an “open construction site” for month.
A Special Permit is needed from P&Z because the project will involve grading more than 1,000 cubic yards of earth (11,500 in all, though no soil will be imported) and more than 10,000 square feet of soil will be disturbed (see page 150 of the New Canaan Zoning Regulations).
The Planning & Zoning Commission is expected to take up the application at its regular meeting June 24.
The project itself is the final phase of a wider renovation at the club that started seven years ago and included rebuilding the clubhouse, moving the pool and constructing a new pool house, Finn said in the letter.
“The current proposed work on the 18th hole and practice areas represents the final phase of that golf course master plan,” the letter said. “The overall master plan is intended to partially restore the course to its original design, and maintain historical authenticity. The renovation project at CCNC was a necessary step in order for the club to remain functional.”
The letter includes a brief history of the 1893-established club and its subsequent golf course, which was originally nine holes. The 18-hole course was completed in the 1940s, the letter said. More than 99% of CCNC members are town residents and the club itself “is an integral part of the town of New Canaan and the vitality and attractiveness of our community,” the letter said.
“CCNC is not only an important part of the fabric of New Canaan as a club, but it also contributes to the prosperity of the Town by frequently allowing its facilities to be used by charitable and other organizations for fund raising activities and for meetings of local groups,” it said.
In asserting that the project complies with the criteria for a Special Permit (pages 210-211), Finn said that the project will not change the use of the club “and the current location has been suitable for over a century.”
“The existing location of the 18th hole, driving range and chipping area will not be substantially changed,” the letter said. “These locations have historically been, and will remain, in the interior property and cannot be observed off site. There are inland wetlands and watercourses located on the site and an application to the Inland Wetlands Commission has already been filed for the project. Thus, the Inland Wetlands Commission will determine whether the project complies with the Inland Wetlands Regulations.”