Government

Officials Flag Parking Space-Reduction Piece of Cross Street Proposal

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Saying they’re concerned about any permanent reduction of parking spaces that Zoning Regulations require in the downtown, members of the municipal body in charge of off-street public lots on Thursday night voiced opposition to one piece of the closely followed residential-and-retail building proposed for Cross Street. The Parking Commission has no formal jurisdiction over the private development proposed for 16 Cross St., which would include retail space on the ground floor—possibly for the Post Office—three levels of apartments above and 54 parking spaces below. Developers say a text change to New Canaan’s Zoning Regulations is needed so that the mixed-use building can reduce beyond five the number of parking spaces normally required for such a structure (a calculation that considers total dwelling units as well as commercial square footage). Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey said he is “against any change in the rules regarding the number of spaces that commercial establishments—which in my mind is the Post Office—need to provide.”

“Particularly the Post Office, where you have people coming in and out all the time,” Richey said at the meeting, held in the Douglass Room at Lapham Community Center. “They should be the last ones allowed to provide a below-code number of spaces.”

Technically, what the developers want to do on Cross Street is expand a regulation already on the books.

Government

Lawyer: Post Office Commitment to Cross Street Hinges on Site Plan Approval

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[acx_slideshow name=”16 Cross Street Proposed Mixed Use Structure”]

The Post Office won’t agree to move to a proposed new space at 16 Cross Street until the town green-lights the larger project proposed for the site, correspondence shows, a combination of new uses and a site plan whose approval process will kickstart with Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. In an email sent Oct. 20 to Town Attorney Ira Bloom, a lawyer representing property owner 3M Capital Trust LLC said “the project is a mixed use development and it is the goal to have part of the first floor used as the new home for the New Canaan Post Office.”

“The USPS apparently does not want to enter into detailed negotiations or an agreement until the project is approved,” Stephen Finn of Stamford-based Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin and Kuriansky said in the email, on file at P&Z. “The project will most likely require at least a couple of meetings before the [P&Z] Commission but for obvious reasons we are hoping to proceed as expeditiously as possible.”

That’s because, or at least partly because, the current Post Office spot at 90 Main St.—though timely, in that it provided a New Canaan location at all, after the Post Office watched its lease at Pine and Park expire with no apparent plan for the future—has been problematic (traffic, parking, hassle). Plans filed Oct.

Government

Mallozzi on Post Office’s Location: ‘A Terrible Inconvenience’

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Though it’s far from clear just where the Post Office will land in the long term, it’s critical that the facility move somewhere other than where it is, New Canaan’s highest elected official said. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi said he’s in contact with the U.S. Postal Service every two weeks and regularly receives updates from Realtors assigned to finding the new location. Since last fall, officials have talked to property owners on Pine, Cherry, Vitti and most recently Forest Streets, but nothing has materialized, Mallozzi said. “To me the most important thing is that the Post Office finds a permanent location and vacated the Main Street location which I think has been a terrible inconvenience,” Mallozzi told NewCanaanite.com. “I am looking for a favorable placement of the Post Office that is conducive to walk-in-traffic, parking and the public.

News

VIDEO: Construction Crew Needs Jackhammer to Clear Frozen Snow in New Canaan

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via YouTube

It’s been so cold in New Canaan since consecutive snowstorms walloped the town that the crew clearing the area outside the former Post Office building is using a jackhammer to crack the mountain of frozen snow outside (see video). Motorists pulling up to the light where Park Street hits Cherry and Pine watched from the comfort of warm SUVs as these guys jack-hammered away at the pile and shoveled the frozen pieces away. The space long occupied by the Post Office—itself relocated at least for now at 90 Main St. (which is causing its own difficulties with traffic and parking)—will see a Mrs. Green’s Natural Market go in. It isn’t clear just when it will open.