Government

Ferris Hill Road Homeowner Moves Boat Out of Driveway Following Neighbor’s Complaint, Notice of Violation

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A Ferris Hill Road homeowner has removed a winterized boat that had been parked in his driveway, following a municipal notice of violation issued last week. A neighbor of the 2.27-acre property, where a boat had been parked just outside a garage east of the house (and largely out of view from the road), prompted a Planning & Zoning inspection by lodging a complaint with the town, officials said. “In response to our recent conversation regarding the violation of the town of New Canaan Zoning Regulations Section 3.3.B.5 you remain in violation of this section for storing of a recreational vehicle (boat), I offer the following: Removal of the boat from the premises or a total screening of the boat satisfactory to this department within 7 days from the date of this notice,” said a Dec. 6 letter from a New Canaan zoning inspector, obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a formal request. It continued: “Failure to comply with this notice will result in further enforcement action.”

Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, a “recreational vehicle” is defined as “any type of vehicle used primarily for recreational pleasure including but not limited to motor homes, travel trailers, campers, camping trailers, boats, snowmobiles and associated trailers.”

Under the regulations, up to two such vehicles may be parked in a residential lot under a zoning permit, though they must either be parked or in a “fully enclosed structure” or else, if parked outside, must “not be located in the front yard of the existing dwelling or other principal building on the same lot,” must “not be located within any required accessory building yard space” and must “be effectively screened from view of adjacent premises to the satisfaction of the Zoning Inspector” (see page 48 here).

Government

Re-Filed: Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Inn Property Wants Six Homes on 1.8 Acres

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The hopeful developer of the Roger Sherman property on Monday filed a new application with the town that would replace the 11,341-square-foot restaurant and inn with six dwellings totaling nearly 17,000 square feet of living space. According to Andrew Glazer of Norwalk-based Glazer Group, the change would bring the 1.8-acre lot at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road into greater conformance with the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, because its use would shift from commercial to residential. Normally—that is, without special approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission—a parcel of that size in that zone could accommodate a single home, under the existing regulations. To make the project possible, Westport-based engineering firm Landtech on Glazer’s behalf has proposed an entirely new “overlay district.” The stated purpose of the proposed “Non-Conforming Residential Overlay District” is “to create the opportunity to eliminate a pre-existing non-conforming use located within the residential zones of New Canaan.”

The newly submitted application includes an October traffic study whose findings appear to be based on seven—rather than six—total dwellings on the property. Originally, Glazer had applied for eight total units, which had become seven by the time an initial public hearing was held in October.

Government

P&Z Approves 110 Units for Proposed ‘Merritt Village’ Development

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With mixed feelings and in the most heavily conditioned approval in memory, the Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously in favor of allowing up to 110 units for the planned redevelopment of the Merritt Apartments property on the edge of downtown New Canaan. Though the proposed ‘Merritt Village’ complex came down in the total number of units since an application was filed in June—from 123 as originally planned and 116 as later offered—some parts of its townhouse-style buildings will reach four stories. Despite multiple adjustments from the applicant, M2 Partners LLC, which brought down the height of the development in some of its most conspicuous street-facing areas, the new allowable height—which is to be specific to the Merritt Village development—concerned much of the commission. “I am not happy with it,” P&Z Commissioner Jack Flinn said of the decision. “I really, really wanted to see it stay at the 3-story level and not break the 4-story ceiling with this.

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.

News

Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Site Proposes New Zone for Regulations To Make Project Possible

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Seeking to tweak the New Canaan Zoning Regulations in a way that will make his plans possible, the would-be developer of the Roger Sherman Inn on Monday filed a new application that proposes a so-called “overlay district.”

Filed on behalf of Norwalk developer Andrew Glazer and Glazer Group, the proposed district would allow him to convert part of the existing inn into a residence and build another six 2.5-story, 2,600-square-foot units on the 1.8-acre lot at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road. Located in the 1-acre zone with a 96-foot easement that runs east of the parcel, the property could accommodate a single home under the existing regulations. Glazer in an initial application made in September and at a subsequent public hearing last month argued that his plan would bring the property into greater conformity with the regulations because it would be a non-commercial use. Filed by Westport-based engineering firm Landtech—not by an attorney who specializes in land use matters, as typically is done—the proposed ‘Non-Conforming Residential Overlay District’ “would allow existing non-conforming uses to be replaced by a more conforming uses.”

“The proposed amendment is a precursor to our special permit application for the proposed residential development of the Roger Sherman Inn,” Landtech principal Peter Romano said in the Nov. 14 application.