Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The Planning & Zoning Commission during a special meeting on Monday night reviewed some 65 yet-to-be-released conditions that it is considering as part of an approval for the closely followed Merritt Village proposal. Though still in draft form and therefore not public, the approval P&Z discussed appears to land on 105 total units at the proposed development. The specter of an affordable housing application looms over the project, should property owner M2 Partners and the town fail to reach a compromise. During an interview after the P&Z meeting, New Canaan resident and would-be Merritt Village builder Arnold Karp said he and his partners “have sat through six months of hearings.”

“We went from 160 to 140 to 123 to 116 to get 105? That doesn’t sit that well with myself or my partners, because it’s way too arbitrary and capricious,” Karp told NewCanaanite.com.

Around Town

Boy Scout Eagle Project Places Hiking Trail on Land Trust Parcel

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A recently completed Boy Scout Eagle Project by John Peiser added a trail and natural bench on the New Canaan Land Trust’s Hicks Meadows – Henry Kelley Uplands Audubon parcel off Cedar Lane in the Silvermine District. The project includes blazing a three-tenths mile hiking trail loop and a natural bench for members of the New Canaan community to enjoy. The Hicks Meadows – Henry Kelley Uplands Audubon parcel consists of 40.7 acres and is located near the intersection of Cedar Lane and Braeburn Drive in the Silvermine section of New Canaan. The parcel grew as a series of donations starting in 1952 with Mr. and Mrs. Clarence King donating 21 acres in the memory of Henry Kelley to the Bird Protective Society of New Canaan, the forerunner to the New Canaan Audubon Society. In 1970, Ira and Margaret Hicks donated 12.75 acres to the Land Trust.

News

State Approves Controversial Aquarion Land Sale Under Draft Decision; Final Decision Expected Wednesday

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Over the objections of the town’s elected officials, open space advocates, conservation experts and a group of neighbors, the state agency that oversees utilities in Connecticut has said it supports the water company’s plan to sell off a large piece of untouched land in southwestern New Canaan, including to developers, under a draft decision issued this month. The non-binding decision from the Connecticut Pubilc Utilities Regulatory Authority, or ‘PURA,’ is expected to be made final on Wednesday (visit this page after 9 a.m. to listen to the agency’s hearing live). According to PURA, Aquarion’s approximately 18.7-acre parcel—it’s tucked behind Weed Street and Frogtown Road west of Thurton Drive dead-ends—“has never been used for water utility purposes.”

“It has always remained in its natural state since it was acquired by Noroton Water Company in 1907,” according to PURA’s findings. “The land is considered to be excess land and is not located within an aquifer protection area or any public water supply watershed. In September 2015, the Company received Class III land verification from the Department of Public Health confirming that the property is located outside watershed or aquifer protection areas.”

Plans call for the property—assessed at $167,720 in 2014 (fair market value of $239,600) after New Canaan in 2002 had agreed to designate it as “forest land”—to be divided into three separate pieces.

Government

Town Urges State Officials To See That Aquarion Land Is Preserved, Not Developed; Public Hearing Scheduled for June 1

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Town officials and open space advocates are urging a state agency that oversees utilities in Connecticut to see that the water company doesn’t sell off pieces of a large parcel of untouched land in southwestern New Canaan to developers, but rather ensures its preservation, as-is. Calling Aquarion’s 18.9-acre property an “oasis” of “woods, stream and wetlands” and a wildlife corridor set amid developed 2-acre properties, the chairman of the New Canaan Conservation Commission in a letter this month told the Public Utility Regulatory Authority that his group is “concerned that while Aquarion has worked in recent years to get this parcel designated as ‘forest land,’ allowing it to lower the total appraised value to $239,600, the company now seeks to reverse all of that effort and sell the property off to developers at top rate.”

“Since the Town has always been agreeable to the lower ‘forest land’ tax valuation, we see no reason that this valuation should now change when discussing the parcel’s proposed sale to those who would continue to preserve, not develop, it,” Conservation Commission Chairman Cam Hutchins said in his May 4 letter. “We are dismayed not just at the sudden, fast track turnaround in Aquarion’s stewardship of this oasis, but, if allowed, we are concerned about the message this reversal would convey about the 600 or so acres of other water company land in our town, and even more across the state. Please consider our point of view, which may differ from that being packaged and presented to you by Aquarion.”

Aquarion is proposing the subdivision and sale of a wooded parcel that straddles the Noroton River and is bordered by the points of three dead-ending roads—Indian Waters Drive, Welles Lane and Thurton Drive. After the water company made its intentions public in March, neighbors on Indian Waters rapidly united to voice support for the property’s conservation, and have filed a formal motion to intervene in Aquarion’s application, citing the utility’s intention to use their private road for access to the would-be subdivided lots (more on that below).

Around Town

Kiwanis Club of New Canaan Is Now Accepting Local Nonprofits’ Requests for Funding, Feb. 29 Deadline

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A local civic organization whose mission is “serving the children of the world” announced Wednesday that it’s opening its annual season for funding requests from nonprofit organization. The Kiwanis Club of New Canaan will be able to allocate up to $2,000 per applicant and will take applications through the end of this month (Feb. 29—it’s a Leap Year). “Those interested should submit a letter with the agency name, contact information, mission statement, detailed description of program, proposed use for funds and amount requested,” Kiwanis said in a press release. “Explanations of how your mission fits within the Kiwanis mission.”

Last year, with funds raised mainly through its summertime Zerbini Famiy Circus—presented in partnership with the New Canaan YMCA—Kiwanians gave a total of $16,000 to 16 local nonprofit organizations.