Business

P&Z Approves Weed Street Subdivision, Mixed-Use Building on Cross Street

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Town planning officials on Tuesday approved a pair of closely followed land use applications—one for a 2-lot subdivision on Weed Street that includes a conservation easement connecting two New Canaan Land Trust properties, and another for a mixed residential-and-commercial structure on Cross Street that’s designed to accommodate future New Canaan Post Office needs. What follows is a summary of each item. Both were approved by the Planning & Zoning Commission at the group’s regular meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. Weed Street
P&Z on six conditions (see below) approved the 2-lot subdivision at 929 Weed St., a 9-acre property whose current structure—a Midcentury Modern—will remain, while two additional lots will be carved out. As part of the subdivision, the property’s owner is granting as a conservation easement along an approximately 425-foot strip of land that connects two parcels long ago given to the New Canaan Land Trust: One that backs up (eastward) into the woods and connects eventually to the New Canaan Nature Center, and another that includes wetlands and fronts Weed Street itself.

Government

Antique Gates OK’d for Entrance to Former Huguette Clark Property

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A set of antique, wrought iron gates may soon grace the entrance to the famed former Huguette Clark estate in New Canaan. Saying the uniquely large size of the 52-acre lot and fact that the gates themselves are to be set back a good 75 feet from the road at 104 Dan’s Highway (well out of the front yard building setback), planning officials on Monday night approved an application for a Special Permit allowing the gates, which otherwise would be too high, under New Canaan’s Zoning Regulations. Local landscape architect Keith Simpson, in presenting to the Planning & Zoning Commission, said part of the work going on at the property—which includes a 1937 mansion undergoing a complete interior renovation—is restoring that main house and part is to “enhance the property in a responsible way” with “a request that we replace the current gates which are certainly failing and replace with some gates that owner have found.”

The gates are nearly nine feet tall and are translucent, so they do not obstruct a view of the property from the road, Simpson said. The gates are “simpler” than some on the west side of town that Simpson cited, saying at the hearing, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center, that he was “hoping the commission may consider the scale of the property and the sort of simple-ness and attractiveness of gates may be something suitable for a Special Permit.”

It isn’t clear whether the gates actually will be added to the property, since the owner of the estate—it was sold in April for $14.3 million and the new owners quickly moved to dissolve an approved 10-lot subdivision of the lot—has not yet purchased them, Simpson said. “The owner would like to buy them before someone else does,” he told P&Z.

Government

P&Z Approves Text Changes for Cross Street Development

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Planning officials on Monday night took a first definitive step in support of a proposed mixed-use Cross Street structure that’s designed to offer a future, long-term location for the Post Office. The Planning & Zoning Commission at its special meeting assigned a Dec. 15 effective date for three text changes to New Canaan’s Zoning Regulations that the group approved 9-0—the necessary first steps in an updated plan that could see a 3-story building go in at 16 Cross St. with 12 residential units above a 7,000-square-foot commercial space. Half of that ground-floor space could house the Post Office, though a meeting with the federal agency likely requires “some approval on this concept,” Arnold Karp, a managing partner of the company that owns 16 Cross St., said during a public hearing.

Government

Town Approves Pair of Dwellings for Summer Street Lot, Formerly Site of ca. 1846 Home

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Town planning officials last week green-lighted a plan to install two detached dwellings on an oddly shaped .48-acre Summer Street lot where a 168-year-old house had stood. The Planning & Zoning Commission at its Nov. 18 meeting approved a special permit (see section 3.2.C.1.b on page 42 of the Zoning Regulations here if you want more detail on that) to install the two units, on some conditions. The property’s existing stone wall fronting Summer must remain, additional screening must be approved by the town planner and the building façades must have different architectural treatments and color, also to be approved by the town planner, P&Z said. “While this is a nicely designed house, it may not be entirely desirable to have two totally identical houses built side-by-side, could you at least vary the façade treatment or materials?” P&Z Chairman Laszlo Papp advised architect Ravi Ahuja of Stamford-based AWA Design Group PC during a public hearing, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center.

Government

P&Z Chairman Stepping Down from Leadership Role

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The hugely influential, volunteer municipal panel that oversees private land use matters in New Canaan is seeing major changes to its membership, officials say. Weeks after longtime Planning and Zoning Commission member David Scannell stepped down from the group, Chairman Laszlo Papp announced this week that he’s vacating his leadership role. According to a press release issued Friday by First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, Papp in his leadership role “successfully fostered a dialogue among his fellow commissioners, institutions and developers alike that is reflected in this beautiful town we live in today.”

“His work ethic, architectural background and years serving New Canaan as an elected member of the Town Council and other appointed positions, enabled Laszlo to navigate the competing interests in a way that imparted fairness and maintained the look and feel of our town that is the envy of so many across the country,” said Mallozzi, who started working with Papp in 2007 on the Downtown Study Group. Papp, who was not immediately available for comment, did not say he’s leaving P&Z altogether, but rather vacating his position as chairman, the first selectman said. Scannell, whom NewCanaanite.com ran into at Zumbach’s Gourmet Coffee on Friday, called Papp “a terrific leader.”

“He has done a fine job,” Scannell said.