Government

P&Z To Cyclists Group Proposing Donated Road Safety Signs: No Thank You

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Calling the design of a proposed sign urging motorists to give cyclists a 3-foot berth ineffective and overly promotional, town officials say they’ll pass on a private group’s offer to supply the signs for free. The Planning & Zoning Commission at its most recent meeting voted 6-0 to forego the offer from the Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club. Commissioner Elizabeth DeLuca, head of the group’s sign subcommittee, told officials from the club that “we are not OK with your sign because it is not effective, it is not visible” and that Town Attorney Ira Bloom had advised against posting publicly a sign that includes the name of a private group. “Ira recommended that there be no group name on the sign,” DeLuca said at the July 28 meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at New Canaan Nature Center. Technically speaking, P&Z’s “No” vote is a sense of the commission rather than a hard denial to the cycling group, which includes some 40 New Canaanites, its officials say.

Government

Officials Weigh Request To Keep Taller-Than-Allowed Pillars, Gate on Lukes Wood Road

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Saying a Luke’s Wood Road property is unusual in that it abuts water company-owned land used by roving deer hunters and is restricted by wetlands, with a house that sits midway through an S-curve that attracts motorists who tend to pull over there and linger, the property’s owner is seeking approval for pillars and a gate whose height exceed what normally is allowed. The area of 309 Lukes Wood Road, which backs up to the Grace Community Church property, is typical of a 4-acre zone in New Canaan in that it is set in a wooded neighborhood where gates and pillars are common, local attorney David Rucci of Lampert Toohey & Rucci, LLC told the Planning & Zoning Commission at its regular meeting on Tuesday. Yet the road also is a very busy as a cut-through between Routes 123 and 124, and homeowners Aris and Patricia Kekedjian “have had issues with cars parking on the front of their property,” Rucci said, speaking on their behalf. “They have had issues with people lunching, and it just happens to be a place where you sort of pull off [of the road], and there is safety concern as well, with trying to get in and out of this driveway, at certain times,” Rucci told P&Z during a public hearing, held in the Sturgess Room at New Canaan Nature Center. Ultimately, and at the urging of P&Z Chairman John Goodwin, the commission decided to put off a formal vote on a special permit application for the proposed pillars and gate until the members of the group had a chance to view them in person.

Government

Planning Officials Raise Questions about Proposed Motorist-Bicyclist Signs

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Asked to weigh in on whether New Canaan should place signs around town instructing motorists to give a legally required 3-foot berth to cyclists, planning officials on Tuesday raised questions about the proposed sign itself, how it’s mounted, just what streets would get one and the timing of its possible installment. Planning & Zoning Commissioner Claire Tiscornia said she’s all for safety but that the specific sign developed by the Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club could confuse passing motorists. “To me that looks like a school bus sign—the sign with the bus and the little light,” Tiscornia said at P&Z’s regular meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “For me, if I was driving down the road, I would think, ‘Why is that school bus sign there?’ And I think it’s a little small. I’m not sure if I was driving by that I would think ‘Share the road.’ I would look at the bike sign and then either it’s too small for me to read or I would just go right past it.

Business

‘It Looks Like It Could Be a Dumpster’: Planning Officials Object to Pine Street Restaurant’s Outdoor Seating ‘Bunker’

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Calling a Pine Street restaurant’s makeshift outdoor seating area a ‘bunker’ that could be mistaken for a dumpster, planning officials on Tuesday night called for the eatery to build what was approved or forego the seasonal addition altogether. South End had been approved for an “open, very light and airy” enclosure that extends into would-be parking spaces for temporary outdoor seating, with features that include vertically defined posts, Planning & Zoning Commission member Kent Turner said at the group’s regular monthly meeting. “As you can see, it was very open,” Turner said of the original and approved plans at the meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “The as-built condition looks like a mechanical equipment louver that completely encloses the space. The fact that it is painted white and the original lower portion of the fence or screen is dark gray is very puzzling, and it appears to be an enclosed structure and I just don’t see how this was even close to what was originally proposed, nor should it be allowed, based on our zoning guidelines and what you see throughout New Canaan as far as outdoor seating.”

Chairman John Goodwin said P&Z had extended an invitation to South End to attend the meeting and speak on the matter, though no representatives from the restaurant were in attendance.

News

Zoning Officials to Bayberry Road Man: Make Do with a Smaller-Than-Planned Patio

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Calling a planned pool-and-patio overly large in that it would encroach on two setbacks as originally proposed, zoning officials have instructed a Bayberry Road man to re-think the project and land on something more reasonable. Plans for 179 Bayberry Road call for a 16-by-36-foot pool and L-shaped patio off the back of the 2005-built, 6,000-square-foot house. A special permit is needed for the project because, as originally conceived, it would encroach on 35-foot-setbacks (see page 58 of the Zoning Regulations here, 2-acre zone) by about four feet on the northern side for the length of the pool-and-patio, and by about eight feet on the eastern side, according to plans filed with the Planning & Zoning Commission. Homeowner Matthew Savino told the Zoning Board of Appeals on May 4 that the patio is sized to accommodate outdoor seating and a grill, and the pool placed away from the 2.5-story house so that it can get as much natural light as possible. ZBA member John Kriz called Savino’s request “a big ask.”

“You just want a large patio,” Kriz said at the meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center.