Seminary Street Homeowners Seek To Rebuild Multifamily Structure

Saying the structure’s foundation has been compromised, the owners of an 1810-built, multifamily dwelling on Seminary Street are seeking permission to rebuild the residence.

A proposed unit for 70 Seminary St. Specs by Westchester Modular Homes Inc.

Plans for 70 Seminary St. call for demolition of the existing structure and creation of a detached two-family dwelling, according to a Special Permit application filed on behalf of property owners Amy Zinser and Robert Trudel by attorney David Rucci of New Canaan-based Lampert Toohey & Rucci LLC.

“The proposed site development will be attractive and consistent with the development in the neighborhood,” Rucci said in a statement that formed part of the application to the Planning & Zoning Commission. “Each unit will have approximately 2,300 square feet of living area, one car garage and open space. The site will be professionally engineered.”

70 Seminary St. in New Canaan. Streetview

Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, a two-family dwelling may be permitted in the Apartment Zone by Special Permit so long as its lot is less than 15,000 square feet, meets the use, area and dimensional requirements of the B residence zone and its maximum building coverage is 25%, minimum landscaped area 50% (see pages 101 and 102 here).

The .27-acre lot at 70 Seminary St. is about 11,725 square feet, the application said.

Seminary includes several multifamily properties, the application said, and the design of the proposed new one is “consistent with neighboring properties,” Rucci said.

“The applicant has designed an aesthetically pleasing structure consistent with the neighboring properties. This is an improvement to the current dwelling. The use will remain the same and is consistent with the Plan of Development.”

P&Z is scheduled to take up the application 7 p.m. Tuesday at its regular meeting.

Town Planner Lynn Brooks Avni said in her memo to the Commission that about 12 properties on Seminary Street are in the Apartment Zone, and “the majority of these properties are either single family or two family residences.”

“The proposed two family development at 70 Seminary Street is in keeping with the overall character of the other properties in the Apartment Zone in this neighborhood,” Brooks Avni said in the memo. “The proposed development is appropriately scaled and the density is conventional of a residential property on Seminary Street.”