Government

‘It’s Barbie Pink’: Town Officials Require Different Color in Sign for Historic House

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Saying they wanted to support a New Canaan couple’s efforts to preserve a historic 18th Century home that narrowly avoided the wrecking ball this past summer, planning officials last week took the unusual step of OK’ing a sign to be planted out front of the property on condition that it’s a different color than originally presented. Despite concerns that the sign to be installed at 8 Ferris Hill Road (in the manner of a demolition sign) also is too large—and strong feelings about the specific language chosen for it—members of the Planning & Zoning unanimously approved it at their regular meeting Tuesday. The sign “is just too big and the color seems wholly inconsistent with the historic house,” P&Z commissioner John Kriz said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “It’s Barbie pink.”

Homeowner Tom Nissley, who with his wife acquired the home and 2.14-acre property for $1.5 million in June, tax records show, explained that the intention is to have the color of the sign match the shingles on the house. “I had to try to reproduce a color that doesn’t exist on the computer and that is how you got this color,” Nissley said.

News

FIRST LOOK: Roger Sherman Inn Redevelopment Plans Filed

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The town on Tuesday received an application to redevelop the Roger Sherman Inn property with eight single-family homes dotting the 1.8-acre Oenoke Ridge Road site. Filed by Norwalk-based Glazer Group on behalf of the property’s owners, plans call for a portion of the longstanding, historic structure—at least part of it dates to 1740, tax records show—to be razed while what remains would be converted into one of the eight new units. The other seven 2-story detached dwellings would include about 2,800 square feet of living space with 2-car attached garages, the application said. About “75 percent of the existing structure that currently houses the restaurant and inn” would be retained, it said. “The intent is to rehabilitate and renovate the façade of the building so that the look and feel from Oenoke Ridge would remain similar to the existing.

Government

Grace Farms Seeks To Amend Operating Permit, Downplays Comments Made at Past Public Hearings

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Seeking new zoning designations in hopes that they’ll allow for wide-ranging activities already occurring on its campus, Grace Farms on Monday filed an application to amend for the second time its town-issued operating permit. Prepared by attorney Edward O’Hanlan of Stamford-based Robinson+Cole, the application stops short of validating concerns from neighbors and town officials about the intensity of use at Grace Farms—concerns that, once they had been aired this summer, gave rise to the need for this new filing. In fact, O’Hanlan in the application argues that the Planning & Zoning Commission may have erred in drafting the permit under which Grace now operates, but cannot now go back and cite what Grace officials had said at the public hearings that led to the approval of that permit—since those utterances do not determine what’s allowed as much as the physical document itself (more on that below). Rather, Grace Farms attributes its need to come back to P&Z to its own technical failure to interpret correctly New Canaan’s Zoning Regulations, according to the Application for Second Amended Special Permit (it is available here in the dropdown menu, listed as ‘365 Lukes Wood Road’). Specifically, by grouping the ‘Grace Farms Foundation’ in with Grace Church under a “religious institution” use, the organization did not allow room for the Foundation to pursue what the application calls “charitable” (as opposed to religious) activities at its site.

Government

‘A Reasonable Consensus’: Developer of Proposed ‘Merritt Village’ Complex Reduces Number of Units, Height of Buildings

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The owners of a 3.29-acre property on the edge of downtown New Canaan on Thursday night unveiled a scaled-back version of the proposed condominium-and-apartment complex that’s caused wide discussion in town since it was presented in June. Instead of 123 units in four 4-floor multifamily dwellings, Merritt Village would have 116 units (55 condos, 61 apartments) and its townhouse-style buildings would rise no more than 3.5 stories, with some of the proposed structures coming down to two stories, according to representatives for the applicant, property owner M2 Partners. The architects of the proposal would prefer to move forward with what originally had been submitted to the town, though the modified plan takes into consideration reasonable concerns raised by third-party consultants and neighbors, Dan Granniss of project designer SLAM Collaborative of Glastonbury told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission at a special meeting. Though M2 Partners does not expect to garner “100 percent consensus,” still “we want to come to a reasonable consensus and we believe the modified design has done just that,” Granniss said during the meeting, which drew more than 100 attendees to Town Hall. The modified proposal was made public during the fourth hearing on Merritt Village, currently the site of Merritt Apartments, a 38-unit complex.

Government

‘A Big Loss’: Town Planner Steve Kleppin To Leave New Canaan for Norwalk Job

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Steve Kleppin recalled that when took the helm as town planner 11 years ago in New Canaan’s Land Use Department, after spending six months as assistant town planner, the agency’s perception in the community was poor. Some on staff at the time had faced criticism from the public and many relationships between the two had gone sour, he said. Yet “through the people that were here and the other people that came on board, we changed that, as a group,” Kleppin recalled Thursday, hours before the town announced that he had taken the role of town planner in neighboring Norwalk. “It’s a well-run area. Even though people might not always like the outcome or the decisions that are made, they’re treated appropriately, treated well and the decisions are thought-out.”

A steady, soft-spoken figure who is highly respected among colleagues, building professionals and property owners in New Canaan—often delivering unwanted news that touches on the largest single investment that residents will ever make—Kleppin will work his last day here on Oct.