[Arnold Karp is managing principal of 751 Weed Street LLC.]
This week, shovels are going into the ground at 751 Weed Street and one of two projects are going to be built.
The 102 unit version has already been fully approved by the courts. It is legal, it will be permitted, and it is ready to be built.
But there is now a better choice.
This project has lived many lives. Earlier versions were larger, and included more units that raised concerns for many residents. Neighbors spoke out. And instead of digging in, a group of residents, town leaders, and the development team did something increasingly rare: they came together and worked toward a compromise.
That compromise is a 62-unit plan that meaningfully reduces density, lowers building height, incorporates underground parking, and better reflects the inputs from the community. The compromise plan reduces the amount of total units by almost one half, and provides a $3.2 million payment (as part of the compromise) from the developer to the town. This payment will be used to support housing solutions on the town’s own terms, the definition of local control.
It is, by any estimation, a better plan for New Canaan.
Six neighboring property owners agree. Local authorities have reviewed and accepted it. Good-faith negotiations and compromise have brought us to the brink of delivering a project that balances growth with community concerns.
But now, two or three neighbors are standing in the way.
By refusing to come to the table, these holdouts are not stopping development. That ship has sailed. What they are doing is jeopardizing the compromise that so many worked hard to achieve for their own personal gain. Because here’s the reality: if an agreement is not finalized, the 102- unit plan will move forward.
Without community involvement we wouldn’t have spent the time and resources revising plans, reducing scale, and working through difficult conversations to get to 62 units. We wouldn’t still be offering that compromise today. We believe the 62-unit plan is the right outcome for this site and for this town.
But we cannot deliver that plan unilaterally. It requires agreement. And right now, that agreement is being blocked by two or three individuals who have chosen not to engage. The neighbor intervenors are needed as the court requires unanimous agreement for any approved compromise. Rather than working with the community they are working to advantage themselves by demanding buyouts and will leave the community with a much larger development. There are seven neighbor intervenors who have accepted the outlined compromise and wish to move forward, while these three intervenor holdouts must think the town should have the larger project.
Construction begins now. And if a resolution is not reached by May 22nd, we will proceed with what has already been approved: 102 units.
That outcome will not reflect the will of the broader community. It will reflect the consequences of inaction. New Canaan came together to find a better path forward. The overwhelming majority of stakeholders have done the hard work of compromise.
Now it’s time for the remaining holdouts to do the same. Because the choice is no longer between development and no development. It’s between a project shaped by the community, or by a few neighbors putting their interests over the community.