Government

Objection Filed in Planned Demolition of Ca.-1928 House at Weed and Elm 

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The town’s chief building official last week received a formal letter objecting to the proposed demolition of an approximately 95-year-old house that sits on a widely discussed lot at Weed and Elm Streets. The 10,000-square-foot home at 751 Weed St.—a 3.1-acre parcel where a 120-unit residential development is planned, under a state affordable housing statute—was built by an “an important resident in New Canaan,” according to Mimi Findlay’s letter. Selinger had been president of the New Canaan Historical Society and he “fund-raised to purchase the Hanford Silliman House to provide a new headquarters for the Historical Society and Library space for the books being housed at the Historical Society headquarters in the New Canaan Library,” according to Finidlay’s letter, filed June 14 with Chief Building Official Brian Platz. “Along with Judge Stanley Mead he then studied the buildings around the Church Hill area and proposed a Local Historic District be established there, serving as it first Chairman for several years,” Findlay’s letter continues. “He was followed by Richard Bergmann as Chair and noted in 1979, when the Bergmanns were leaving New Canaan to move to Florida, ‘Because of the excellent persuasive ability of Dick Bergmann, the Red Cross decided not to encase their vintage house in vinyl or aluminum, it Is now being painted.’ The history of the property was reknowned [sic] and respected, although Selinger demolished the existing Victorian residence, which had replaced the original 1781 house of Peter Weed.”

Under Section 12A-9 of the Town Code, if the Town Building Official “receives a pertinent written objection to the application within 15 days following publication of the [demolition] notice, then the Building Official shall promptly refer such objection to the Historical Review Committee.” 

It’s unclear whether or when the Committee will take up Findlay’s objection.

Arnold Karp

Affordable Housing: State Issues ‘Declaratory Ruling’ Against the Town in Moratorium Application

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The state last week issued a ruling that bolsters its decision in October to deny the town’s application for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing statute. The town had pushed back following the Connecticut Department of Housing’s denial of its application for a “moratorium” from the state law known by its statute number, 8-30g. The law allows developers who propose housing projects where at least 30% of units will be rented at affordable rates to get around local Planning & Zoning Commission decisions through an appeal process. 

The town had qualified for a four-year moratorium in 2017, with the denser redevelopment of New Canaan Housing Authority-owned apartments Millport Avenue, and hoped to qualify for another one, in part, through the redevelopment of the Canaan Parish complex at Lakeview Avenue and Route 123, which was partially completed in October 2021. 

Yet that project was delayed by financing difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic, officials have said. In the months after the 2017-issued moratorium expired, the town received three such applications, at Weed and Elm Streets (120 units), Main Street (20 units) and Hill Street (93 units). Last July—more than one year after the 2017-issued moratorium expired—the town applied for another one.

Anne Kelly-Lenz

Town On Pace To Exceed Legal Budget Again

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The town is on pace, once again, to exceed its budget on legal fees. Documents show that in the last fiscal year, New Canaan exceeded its $300,000 budget by 32% ($395,947.42). 

In the current fiscal year, the town is on pace to spend about $383,989, based on billing from the town attorney’s firm as of the most recent legal invoice approved by the Board of Selectmen. Selectman Kathleen Corbet during the Board’s Feb. 19 meeting asked how the town proceeds with covering such non-budgeted costs. “We have reached our budgeted amount and we’ve got four more months of the fiscal year,” Corbet said at the meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference.

Arnold Karp

New Canaan Denied Relief from Affordable Housing Law [UPDATED]

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[Note: This article has been updated with the town’s response, below.]

Original Article

New Canaan’s application for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing law has been denied, documents show. In a letter to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan dated Oct. 18, Connecticut Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno said that the agency’s staff “has reviewed the application and comments received and determined that the Town of New Canaan’s application does not meet the requirements for the issuance of a Certificate of Affordable Housing Project Completion as submitted.”

Moynihan could not immediately be reached for comment. The town’s failure to secure the Certificate—or four-year “moratorium” from the widely discussed state law known by its statute number, 8-30g—means that New Canaan remains vulnerable to additional applications for affordable housing projects. Under the law, in towns where less than 10% of all housing stock qualifies as affordable (New Canaan is at 2.94%), developers who propose projects where a certain number of units are set aside to rent at affordable rates may appeal to the state after a local Planning & Zoning Commission denies their applications. 

New Canaan since its last moratorium lapsed in July 2021 has received three such applications, at Weed and Elm Streets (120 units), Main Street (20 units) and Hill Street (93 units).

Arnold Karp

102-Unit Residential Development Planned for Weed and Elm Streets

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A 102-unit residential development is planned for the corner of Weed and Elm Streets, according to an application filed with the town. 

The development at 751 Weed St. “will consist of 47 one-bedroom units and 55 two-bedroom units, including 8 two-bedroom units with a den,” according to an application filed Jan. 25 on behalf of the project’s developer by attorney Timothy Hollister of Hartford-based Hinckley Allen. The Jan. 25 application‚ which is to be discussed during the Feb.