Government

Independent Consultant: P&Z Should Consider Limiting Events at Grace Farms, Ensure Ties to Approved ‘Religious Institution’ Use

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In considering the latest bid from Grace Farms to secure after-the-fact approval for wide-ranging and intense activities on its campus, town officials should consider limiting the number, size and frequency of events there far more strictly than the organization has proposed, according to an independent, third-party consultant. The Planning & Zoning Commission also may address the size and focus of the food service establishment operating at Grace Farms, as well as an outdoor music-playing “sound sculpture” in a pond, according to Simsbury-based consulting firm Planimetrics. Further, any Special Permit granted by P&Z where Grace Farms is seeking to expand beyond its approved principal use as a religious institution “should tie the additional use requests to the ‘religious institution’ so that they are part and parcel of the overall operation,” Planimetrics President Glenn Chalder said in a May 23 report to the commission. “Since the Special Permit requests are being requested for all of the parcels, it might not be prudent to have a situation in the future where a parcel is sold off or transferred in a way that would allow another club/organization/institutional use to be established on another parcel without commission review. Also, by tying the additional uses to the religious institution, this can help the commission avoid or manage a situation where the religious use is no longer active and the club/organization/institutional use is different than described or envisioned today.”

The recommendations come as Grace Farms prepares to appear Tuesday night before P&Z with its third application to amend a zoning permit approved four years ago, having withdrawn its first two.

Government

Downtown Development, St. Luke’s Campus Highlight Final Public Hearing on POCD

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Though he lives just 400 feet from the heart of downtown New Canaan, Mark Noonan of St. John’s Place said he rarely walks into the heart of our village. Based on his own experience, Noonan said during a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday night that it’s a mistake to think erecting multi-level residential buildings in areas such as nearby Grove Street—for older town residents seeking smaller housing in town, say—would lead to those same people walking into town. While Noonan praised the focus of a proposed Plan of Conservation and Development or “POCD” on areas such as downtown parking and preserving our village’s character, he added, “The height is such a sensitive issue.”

“Opening the door at all to height changes I think is really harmful to the town because it encourages greater density, greater packing and there’s always losers and winners when height restrictions change,” Noonan said during a final public hearing on the POCD, held in the Sturgess Room of the New Canaan Nature Center’s Visitors Center. “And certainly it can dramatically change the town character.”

The updated POCD—an advisory, state-mandated planning document designed to guide generally the future of development in the community (as opposed to a set of regulations that determine what must or must not happen)—has been in development since last year.