The owners of a Smith Ridge Road home are seeking retroactive permission from a town-appointed body for a lighted batting cage on their 2.24-acre property.
The 14-by-70-foot cage, which is already in place, is covered in black netting and anchored by 12-foot-high steel posts, according to an application on file with Planning & Zoning.
“The Applicant constructed a batting cage in accordance with all applicable regulations but is seeking the special permit for said recreation facility due to the addition of lighting,” said the application, filed on behalf of John and Charlene Serra-Marciano, owners of 884 Smith Ridge Road.
“The Applicant was unaware of the need to obtain the Special Permit for the lighting element and desires to be in full compliance with the New Canaan Zoning Code,” it said.
The cage itself is more than 40 feet from the property line, the application said, and its lights “do not create either a hazard or a nuisance for adjacent properties of which there is essentially only one in close proximity which is to the south.”
The P&Z file contained no letters of objection as of Oct. 21.
The lighting source is “concealed” as it affixed to trees 16 feet above grade and “none of the lighting is directed towards the one adjacent residential property with all of the lighting directed at the cage and thereafter the home situated at the subject property,” the application said.
Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, an “illuminated outdoor recreation facility” is allowed by Special Permit under conditions, including that “such lighting shall not create a hazard or nuisance upon adjacent properties” by concealing them, not directing them toward neighbors and keeping the lights mounted no more than 20 feet above grade (see page 55 here).
The Planning & Zoning Commission is expected to take up the application at its Oct. 29 meeting.