Government

‘A Reasonable Compromise Has To Be Worked Out’: P&Z Weighs In on Merritt Village Proposal

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Questions about the viability of a new parking system, guarantees regarding the set-aside of some below-market units and the potential that a condo-and-apartment complex could loom conspicuously over parts of Park Street rank high among outstanding concerns regarding the proposed development at Merritt Apartments, the chairman of the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission said Tuesday night. Most of all, perhaps, the Merritt Village as proposed—a plan that would see 123 units built on a combined 3.29-acre parcel at the edge of downtown New Canaan where 38 now exist—raises questions about “the density of the whole project,” P&Z Chairman John Goodwin said during a public hearing. “One component is—is four stories the right answer or should it be three?—which effectively becomes three-and-a-half [stories] with a roof,” Goodwin said during the hearing, which drew a standing-room only crowd at Town Hall. “And as the planner has noted, there is the issue of how many units. The planner has shared with the commission his analysis that if we were to apply the current most dense project in New Canaan to [the Merritt Village] project, the number that would fall out would be 95 units, so that is a challenge.

Government

‘I Have Let It Go in the Past’: Attorney for Silver Hill Calls Out P&Z Member (and Neighbor) at Public Hearing

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After the neighbor of a Valley Road hospital who also sits on the Planning & Zoning Commission wrangled with an architect over a multi-faceted application during a recent public hearing, an attorney representing the nonprofit institution called out the commissioner, objecting to the way he participated in the proceeding. Thanks largely to open communications with Silver Hill Hospital President and Medical Director Dr. Sigurd Ackerman, members of the Silvermine River Neighborhood Association—a group that formed following a long-running legal battle involving the psychiatric facility—issued no objections to a new plan to rebuild an admissions building and make some other changes, attorney Michael Sweeney said during P&Z’s most recent meeting. “Dr. Ackerman called a meeting with the group, worked through the application with the group, there were comments, and he also reached out to other sections of the various neighborhoods around the property, including up on the hill and to the side, had separate meetings with several neighborhood who called with questions and the silence from the room speaks to what a good job he did,” Sweeney told P&Z commissioners during their June 28 meeting, held at Town Hall. “The sad part about this is that Mr. [Kent] Turner never elects to participate. He has not joined the Silvermine River Neighborhood Association and has not reached out to the hospital, and we invite him to do so.

Government

‘New Canaan Is Not a Number of Houses or Residents’: P&Z Agrees To Modify Operating Permit for Philip Johnson Glass House

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After two public hearings that saw neighbors, including one member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, voice opposition to a proposal from the Philip Johnson Glass House to expand its operations, town officials on Tuesday night agreed to approve a slightly modified version of those plans. Designed to help the National Trust for Historic Preservation site fund the maintenance and restoration of its 49-acre Ponus Ridge campus and the 14 architecturally significant structures on it, the Glass House’s proposal—raising the baseline headcount allowed on the property and extending the hours during which people can visit—in January drew criticism from some neighbors concerned about noise and traffic. P&Z commissioner Dick Ward also voiced a familiar concern about the “creep” in scope that sometimes accompanies institutional uses in residential zones. Yet referring to the Glass House’s plans as “institutional creep” sets New Canaan off “in the wrong direction,” P&Z commissioner Laszlo Papp said at a special meeting of the group, held at Town Hall. “I would personally not call these entities ‘institutions.’ I would call them ‘public entities.’ Why?

Government

‘There Will Be Considerably Greater Loom’: Oak Street Neighbor Raises Concerns About Rebuilding Plan

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Town officials postponed a decision on an Oak Street property owner’s application to rebuild a two-story home after next-door neighbors raised concerns about how the proposed new structure would loom over their house. Though a proposed two-family home at 50-52 Oak St. would be only “marginally taller than what is already there, it will be far closer to our property and therefore, there will be considerably greater loom,” Paul Crowley of 64 Oak St.—a Colonial that originally dates back to 1934, what scores of New Canaanites had come to know as Archie Stewart’s house at the corner of Green Avenue—told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission at their most recent regular meeting. “The people in this residence will have stadium seats, looking into my backyard and it will also block out late afternoon light,” Crowley said at the meeting, held March 29 at Town Hall. A proposal calls for special permit to create what would be a more conforming structure on the .29-acre parcel at 50-52 Oak St.

Government

‘That Property Is Struggling’: P&Z Chairman Voices Support for Expanded Operations at Philip Johnson Glass House

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The Philip Johnson Glass House not only anchors the important Modern architecture of New Canaan, the Ponus Ridge site also has caused the Planning & Zoning Commission fewer problems than have other institutions in residential zones, the group’s chairman said Tuesday night. The National Trust for Historic Preservation site is an “amazing” property and the organization that operates it has been “very, very well behaved” since opening to the public in 2007, John Goodwin said during P&Z’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “I’ve also been watching the management of the Glass House, and I know there’s a concern that this just is another director until the next director comes. But I would say that they finally have a business guy. My apologies to the architects, but sometimes it is good to have a business guy.