Amy Souchuns

‘Our Purview Is To Protect the Town’: P&Z Opens Application for 14-Unit Affordable Project on Parade Hill Road

By |

Members of the Planning & Zoning Commission called on those behind the proposed redevelopment of a Parade Hill Road lot for a 14-unit affordable housing complex to obtain a traffic study as part of their application. Addressing the developer behind the project, Richard Freedman, as well as his attorney, Amy Souchuns of Milford-based MacDermid, Reynolds & Glissman, P.C., P&Z Chair Dan Radman noted that although the proposal sets aside one parking space for each unit, it’s not a guarantee that its residents will drive. “I want a traffic study, including pedestrian traffic,” Radman said during a March 9 special meeting where Freedman and Souchuns gave a preliminary presentation to P&Z on the project. “I think the last thing we want to avoid is placing someone in an affordable housing unit that has no vehicular transportation and is forced to walk down roads and streets and [Route] 123 that has no sidewalks, and put them in harm’s way,” Radman said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Asked why there’s no formal parking study, Souchuns said, “It’s 14 units and a site plan.

Charter Revision Commission

Charter Review: Town Officials Weigh Elected vs. Appointed P&Z

By |

Town officials charged with recommending possible changes to New Canaan’s founding document are hearing from residents on both sides of a divisive question, namely, whether the Planning & Zoning Commission should change from an appointed body to an elected one. Noting that towns such as Darien, Westport and Wilton already have elected P&Zs, those in favor of the change say it would bring greater accountability to commissioners, would make them more likely to listen to neighbors and those directly affected by decisions and would bring another layer of checks and balances to local government. Advocates for an elected P&Z say the question of a change should go to the town’s electorate. Those opposed to the change say it would draw single-issue candidates, would disrupt P&Z applications mid-review, would place financial and time burdens on prospective members that would limit the pool of commissioners, would undo the strong mix of backgrounds and technical expertise now in place and would amount to overhauling a system that works well as-is. Opponents say the electorate isn’t informed enough to make a decision on such an important change.

Anne Wagner

P&Z Approves New Entrance Sign for NCHS

By |

The Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously to approve a new ‘New Canaan High School’ sign at the entrance to the Farm Road campus. The NCHS PFA is paying for the estimated $30,000 sign thanks to “the success of our annual appeal fundraising efforts and the generous giving community the past several years,” Anne Wagner, a co-president of the PFA Executive Board, told members of P&Z during a special meeting. “ It was actually inspired by the New Canaan Library site that sits at South and Maple,” Wagner said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “The proposed new entrance site will measure three-and-a-half feet high by 20 feet long by two feet thick, and will be built in a gentle curve of stacked Connecticut stone. It will feature 10-inch-high architectural metal letters in a font that matches the existing lettering on the school building.

Affordable Housing Committee

Affordable Housing Committee Elects Officers, Hears from Town Officials at First Meeting

By |

A newly appointed committee charged with identifying properties in New Canaan where affordable housing units could be built, among other responsibilities, on Monday voted to elect a seasoned and widely respected municipal volunteer as its chair. At its first meeting, members of the Affordable Housing Committee voted 9-0 to elect former Planning & Zoning Commission chair John Goodwin to lead the group. 

In nominating him, Committee member Krista Neilson said that Goodwin’s time on P&Z “gives him a lot of insight into the work that we’re going to be doing here.”

“He sat in on approving Canaan Parish and Millport, I’m sure he probably dodged some 8-30g applications that didn’t come to us,” Neilson said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. She continued: “So he’s seen the whole gamut, at least, of how it comes to the town. And also, I think he has great experience being the chair of the Planning & Zoning Commission, which—those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of attending our meetings, can be quite long, quite contentious. I feel if you can chair that, you can chair most anything.

Dan Radman

Affordable Housing: State Denies Town’s Claims in Response to ‘Declaratory Ruling’ Lawsuit

By |

The state Department of Housing last week filed its formal answer to a lawsuit from the town of New Canaan, denying claims that it “aggrieved” the municipality last year when it issued a “declaratory ruling” after denying an application for relief from a widely discussed affordable housing law. The town claimed in a complaint filed last summer that the DOH misinterpreted the law known by its statute number, 8-30g, when the agency bolstered its reasoning for an earlier denial of the town’s application for a four-year “moratorium.”

Specifically, the town argued, the state erred in failing to credit New Canaan for “excess” affordable housing units that had been completed prior to the issuance of the town’s last moratorium (in 2017). 

“In other words, if a municipality constructs a substantial number of affordable housing units, well in excess of the number of units that would be required for a moratorium under § 8-30g, and then the municipality applies for and receives a moratorium, none of the ‘excess’ or ‘surplus’ newly constructed affordable housing can ever be counted towards a later moratorium,” Nick Bamonte, a lawyer with the town attorney’s firm, said in the complaint. 

In the Jan. 19 answer, Assistant Attorney General Vianca T. Malick denied the town’s claims that the DOH’s declaratory ruling prejudiced the rights of New Canaan, violated state law, abused its power or effectively discouraged the construction of affordable housing units, as the complaint had asserted. Under the state law known by its statute number, 8-30g, 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 P&Z 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, above Kimberly Place), Main Street (20 units) and Hill Street (93 units).