NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) to the editor. Please send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com for publication here.
***
While at Greenology I observe many people get ticketed as they rush in to pick up food at Greenology. Many are doing it for a job.
I called Town Hall and suggested 15 minute parking like they have in front of HealthFare where there are often quick pick ups.
I do not know why the Town of New Canaan has not tried to be helpful.
What is in front of Greenology is a loading zone; the sign is at the height of the tree leaves, hard to notice by cars with an eye on the street, looking for parking at eye level; the loading zone sign is way above the car. I hear that employees sometime pay the parking tickets in an effort to assist their customers, fearing the parking will deter business.
I also witnessed a senior park to go in to pick up a juice. Most of the street in both directions was unavailable for parking due to ongoing street repairs, covering 2 blocks. She was threatened with a ticket and was not able to get her food as she had to move her car immediately.
I believe the Town of New Canaan is acquiring a bad image when too many people come here to give our town business and they go home with tickets. Is the Town of New Canaan driving business away with their pursuit of tickets? Many are noticing.
Gail Merrill
***
As a developer who has worked in New Canaan I must admit that I have never seen a more outrageous proposal than what Karp Development is trying to push through on the Weed and Elm property. When I did the Maples and tried to do the Roger Sherman they were both pre-existing non conforming properties that we reduced the density of use on the Maples and tried to do on the Roger Sherman. This project is the complete opposite. A single family zone which should typically allow three houses on the 3+acre property is all that’s available. The idea that for some reason because it has sewer and water allows it to be something more than what is allowed is absurd and really beyond any reasonable understanding. Anyone in town who votes for this project is subjecting themselves to the threat of multiple lawsuits given that there is absolutely no hardship that would warrant a variance which is what would be needed. By couching it in either a senior residence or using affordable housing as a stick is a Trojan horse just as the Vue was. Karp put the gun to the head of the town with the Vue by threatening affordable housing, a threat that is disgusting given that affordable housing allows for cops, teachers and firemen to live in the town that they work in. That can not work on this project. And any hint of religious discrimination is beyond discussion.
I understand that development can be a four letter word but there is good development and there is the proposal for this project which should be vigorously denied.
The town needs to simply stop this in its tracks as it puts at risk many properties in New Canaan and opens doors that will further change the look and feel of the town.
Andy Glazer
***
“Nothing brings us all together quite like a stupid idea.” —A New Canaanite on plans to develop 751 Weed St.
New Canaan’s Weed Street is under threat by outside developers intent on putting up a 102-unit high-density housing project on a 3.1 acre property on the corner of Weed and Elm. Their plan is to cram over 300 people into a lot currently occupied by a single family home.
They expect to produce over 14 million gallons of sewer discharge per year. This housing project would be catastrophic to the neighborhood — destroying its charm, snarling it in traffic, and crushing its property values. If the developers succeed, they could come to your neighborhood next.
Over a thousand local citizens have already signed a petition to stop Karp’s 102-Unit residential development in New Canaan. Signers commented with concerns that this huge housing project would change our town forever – ruining a neighborhood, pressuring on our schools, and snarling traffic flow with increased congestion.
This project has unified the town in solid opposition as seen in comments on this site. Nearby neighbors whose homes would be overwhelmed by this project are organizing to defend our neighborhood, but even many people who live outside the immediate area are getting involved – signing the petition and donating to the legal defense.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us raise the funds necessary to mount a legal defense of our idyllic New Canaan neighborhood before it is destroyed by developers. 100% of net funds raised will go to preserve New Canaan neighborhoods from outside developers, starting with Weed Street.
Chris DeMuth Jr
[Comments are disabled on this post.]