Government

Main Street Building Owner Seeks To Create Residences on Second Floor

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The owners of a long-vacant commercial building on Main Street are planning to convert its second floor from offices to apartments, according to a new application on file with the town. The “bank” building at 87 Main St. — a prominent 1911-built brick structure that used to house the Indian restaurant Thali — would see its cathedral ceiling filled in order to convert the second floor into four one-bedroom apartments, according to a letter to the Planning & Zoning Commission dated Sept. 12. “The project will also include adding an elevator within the existing footprint that will access both floors including a new street level access door located at the southeast corner of the building,” according to the letter from architect James Schettino.

Government

Affordable Housing Applications in New Canaan: An Update

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What follows is a snapshot of where the three 8-30g affordable housing applications filed in New Canaan now stand, with respect to municipal and state government agencies, as well as the courts. In addition to the applications at Weed and Elm Streets, Main Street and Hill Street, the town currently is suing the Connecticut Department of Housing over its denial in October of an application for four years of relief from the state affordable housing law (known by its statute number, 8-30g) that allows developers to skirt local planning decisions in projects that set aside a certain percentage of units as affordable. Under a Jan. 20 order from Judge Ted O’Hanlan, the state has until Friday to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Connecticut Judicial Branch records show. Oral arguments on that motion will be heard March 15, the records show.

News

Developer Seeks To Create New Mixed-Use Building, Townhouses at Forest and Locust

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A Westport real estate firm is seeking to create a new, mixed-use building and adjoining row of townhouses at the northwest corner of Forest Street and Locust Avenue—site of the long-vacant former Bank of America building. In an application filed on behalf of Silver Heights Development, officials said they want to put a mixed-use building with 1,500 square feet of ground floor retail uses and two residential units above facing Locust Avenue, and five townhouses fronting Forest Street. Schematics included in the Aug. 24 application show that the mixed-use building would run to the corner of Forest and Locust. The application for the .4-acre lot at 42 Forest St.—from attorney Jacqueline Kaufman, a partner at Stamford-based Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey LLP—includes two proposed changes to the New Canaan Zoning Regulations in order to make the project possible as it now is envisioned.

Government

‘It’s Going To Be Hard’: New Canaan Faces Long Odds on Achieving Third Affordable Housing Moratorium, Officials Say

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Though New Canaan this summer qualified for four years of relief from a state law that allows developers to skirt local planning decisions by designating a certain percentage of units in new projects as “affordable”—and could be positioned to achieve a second four-year “moratorium” under that law—it’s unclear now whether or how the town will be able to continue doing so. The major difficulty, according to the chairman of the New Canaan Housing Authority, is the high cost and scarcity of land in town that could take a fair-sized (say, 20-unit) affordable development. “Land of any sort of sizeable acreage that is on sewer and water, is certainly subject to an [affordable housing] ‘cramdown’ from a developer, and it’s also therefore valuable to them,” Scott Hobbs told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission during their regular meeting, held Aug. 29 at Town Hall. “And knowing that someday we will run out of moratorium time, so the odds that we could buy a piece of property like that, is going to be hard.

Government

‘We Are Going To Miss Him’: Town Planner Steve Palmer To Step Down Next Month

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Steve Palmer, town planner of New Canaan since late last year, is stepping down from his position with the municipality to join his family’s business, officials said Friday. Town employees received word from New Canaan Human Resources Director Cheryl Pickering-Jones in a midmorning email. “We are going to miss Steve and the work he has done in just a  short time for Planning and Zoning,” she said in the email. In a relatively short period of time, Palmer has tackled multiple dense and divisive P&Z applications and appeals before the town, including the Merritt Village, sober house, Grace Farms and Roger Sherman Inn. Asked about the development, First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said that Palmer has done “a magnificent job while here.”

“We are going to miss him,” Mallozzi said.