Owner, Would-Be Developer of Roger Sherman at Odds Over Inn’s Future

Though he has filed the necessary paperwork to appeal the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision to deny a redevelopment plan for the Roger Sherman Inn, builder Andrew Glazer is in no position to do so, the property and business owner said. According to Nes Jaffre, Glazer had been contract purchaser of the property under an agreement that ended Feb. 28. “We do not have any contract with Andy and he has no business at all doing anything regarding this property,” she told NewCanaanite.com. “I am spending all my efforts and time building this business, and really this has got to stop.”

Meanwhile, Glazer in an Op-Ed published in NewCanaanite.com, conceded that he needs the Jaffres’ support to pursue an appeal in earnest.

Op-Ed: Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Makes a Case for Pursuing Appeal of P&Z Denial

I want to clarify some of the statements that have been made regarding our possible appeal of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s rejection of our plans for the Roger Sherman. As I have written before, I went to contract on the Roger Sherman with the understanding and support from commission members and the town planner for the project. The contract I signed was non-contingent on zoning approval, meaning my money was at risk if I was turned down. The owners who had been trying to sell for over four years and were tired of trying to maintain a tough business and infrastructure wanted to move on. They priced it at the highest and best use, which was housing.

Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Inn Is Appealing P&Z’s Denial, Town Planner Says; Timing of Legal Filing in Question

Making good on his word following the town’s denial last month of a plan to redevelop the Roger Sherman Inn property, a Norwalk developer has filed an appeal of the decision in Superior Court, town officials said Tuesday night. The New Canaan town clerk on Monday received an appeal of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision, according to Town Planner Steve Palmer. Palmer told members of P&Z during their regular meeting that “it was surprising to receive it [Monday] because Friday the 21st was the end of the 15-day appeal period and the Town Clerk got it yesterday.”

“I was relieved that it came in Monday, but there is still a question of whether it was timely because it may have been in the marshal’s hand in that 15-day period, and there may have been some grace period that is given by the statutes that allows them not to deliver it in 15 days to the town, so [Town Attorney] Ira [Bloom] is researching that. Andrew Glazer of Glazer Group told NewCanaanite.com that he would appeal P&Z’s decision immediately after the group on March 28 denied his application by a 7-2 vote. Glazer had sought to redevelop the property at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road with six single-family homes, and said during an interview just after P&Z’s denial that he was especially disappointed because he had received encouragement from some commissioners to proceed when his plan first came down from eight to seven units, in the fall.

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P&Z Denies Plan for Roger Sherman Inn, Developer Vows To Appeal

Saying the proposed redevelopment of the Roger Sherman Inn is wrong for its neighborhood and that changes to the New Canaan Zoning Regulations would need to undergo to allow it are too site-specific, officials on Tuesday night by a 7-2 vote denied a plan to replace the Roger Sherman Inn with six single-family homes. Though changing the use of 195 Oenoke Ridge Road from a business to a residence normally would make it more conforming to the regulations, the plan as proposed isn’t “a good trade here, for a lot of reasons” beyond its excessive density, according to Planning & Zoning Commissioner Bill Redman. “One is, it is certainly not like the Maples Inn from years ago, it’s not the same look and feel,” Redman said during a regular meeting of P&Z, held at Town Hall. “Things have changed around town in terms of the types of housing that have gone in. I don’t want to give false hope by saying, ‘Come in with something different.’ I don’t feel that way.

Roger Sherman Developer Proposes Four-Unit Project

I first looked at purchasing the Roger Sherman property over 5 years ago while I was building the Maples project next door. Like the Maple Inn the Roger Sherman, though more active in use, was struggling to maintain a business and a physical plant that needed renovation badly in order to keep up with the change in dining habits that have taken place in New Canaan over the last few years. The current owners did not nor do they now have the resources to do what we are doing over at the Silvermine Tavern property which is completely renovate and bring up to the standards that Inn users want and will pay for today. Over these past four years five different deals came and went from some who wanted to either run the restaurant/Inn or develop the property as a multi family project. The Inn buyers turned out to be either complete frauds or tire kickers and the developers wanted to put in anywhere from 14 to 24 units.