8 thoughts on “P&Z To Deny Affordable Housing Application at Weed and Elm

  1. I am so glad the P and Z are finally moving forward to negate the Weed Street building.
    The density is much too intense and the height much to high . Most structures in town are no more than 2 stories with a few exceptions of 3 stories
    I do not know how The Vue was able to be built as it “looms” over the sky line
    Height issues must also be addressed if we are to continue to be ” The Station Next to Heaven”
    The Mill Pond housing was replaced some years ago with appropriate and attractive housing. There was little “push back” by the community for that project as we mostly agree that Affordable Housing must be a goal and consideration our town.

    • The View is an abomination. It is the antithesis of everything New Canaan Connecticut represents. Carp thinks it’s a great success. I see many apartments along Park Street that look empty. Stevens above is correct. Two Stories max with a few 3 story exceptions. But 5? Whut whuuut? I embrace affordable housing… New Canaan is behind. There is a way to combine a beautiful New England town with housing that welcomes those whose income is below the median norm……but let’s get real. 102 units? 175+ cars plus Fedex/UPS/Uber etc etc pulling in and out of the complex? On a beautiful, historic intersection? Wrong and wrong. C’mon P&Z. Keep up the good work!

  2. This process really highlights what a horrible piece of legislation 8-30g actually is, incentivizing for-profit developers to casually obliterate a neighborhood’s character in the name of partially affordable housing. Pretty awful that the burden of proof lies with P&Z now to explain to the state why this won’t work, when if we had *just* acted on the moratorium paperwork in 2021, we wouldn’t be here.

    Let’s not expect developers to exhibit good taste or magnanimity all of a sudden. The only way out of this is for New Canaan to proactively build 100% of our own affordable housing units, preferably in town, and in stringent keeping with the low building heights and charming character of this place. Every single one of Karp’s proposals currently on the table looks like a g-d Hyatt Place in exurban Atlanta, and low income tenants, if not all of us, deserve better.

  3. I commend the P&Z members for their comprehensive review of the 751 Weed Street proposal. I have been impressed by the integrity and professionalism of the Commission, as well as the process they have conducted to take input from the developer, experts, and citizens. As a concerned citizen and neighbor, I have attended every meeting of the Commission (in person or via Zoom) since the application was initially filed in February. Lots of facts and nuances given 8-30g dynamics.

    I encourage fellow New Canaan residents to watch the Special Meeting of P&Z on October 13 as it is available on YouTube under the town’s channel (currently has only 26 views). Each Commissioner raises thoughtful points throughout, but Commissioner Krista Neilson’s concluding remarks starting around the 1hr:14min mark are especially insightful. I am paraphrasing her remarks, but this project, as it is proposed, puts an enormous strain on some already strained infrastructure (stormwater, sewer, traffic, fire department) and the lowest common denominator that is driving this strain is the site plan and the density on the site. She adds the site plan is “overcrowded and has too many things it is trying to accomplish in a finite space….and therefore sacrifices some of these other things we have discussed, specifically fire, safety, and stormwater.”

    A lot of work remains, and I encourage fellow New Canaan residents to rally together to promote sustainable and appropriate development, as well as to advocate for the protection of open spaces, wetlands, and other public trust goods (road, water, and sewer infrastructure) throughout our town. We must promote civic engagement, transparency, and good governance regarding the local government in the Town of New Canaan.

  4. Mike – you put a good link to the affordable housing data in your article. I encourage people to look at it. What they will find is our HUD District (Stamford – Norwalk is the district name and in addition to those cities includes Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan, Weston, Westport and Wilton) according to the latest census data has 146,792 total housing units (i.e. dwellings) of which 15,307 are defined as affordable i.e. 10.43%. As much of the affordable housing demand data is from the American Community Survey Data which is also regional, rather than town specific (and is used in our town affordable housing plan) we have an inherent conflict between the 8-30g law which is town unit based and demand data which is regional based.

  5. The underutilized Lumberyard Lot could be a good location for affordable housing. Use half of the lot for housing and put up a parking deck on the other half to maintain capacity.

  6. The headline for this article is very misleading. Its not an “affordable housing application.” Its an application for a developer to obtain a zoning variance to build a massive and geographically inappropriately massive multi-family dwelling with predominantly MARKET RATE units on a piece of dirt currently zoned for 1 acre single family and to unjustly enrich himself in the process, at the expenses of the towns citizenry, all while creating massive health, safety and environmental externalities for the town and its people. I recognize that headline is a big wordy, but its certainly more accurate.

    • Admittedly I’m not a good headline writer, though I would note here that this is an affordable housing application. I’m not aware of projects where developers go above and beyond the 30% set-aside requirement.

Leave a Reply to Laura Ault Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *