Government

Hopeful Developer of Roger Sherman Inn Is Appealing P&Z’s Denial, Town Planner Says; Timing of Legal Filing in Question

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Making good on his word following the town’s denial last month of a plan to redevelop the Roger Sherman Inn property, a Norwalk developer has filed an appeal of the decision in Superior Court, town officials said Tuesday night. The New Canaan town clerk on Monday received an appeal of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s decision, according to Town Planner Steve Palmer. Palmer told members of P&Z during their regular meeting that “it was surprising to receive it [Monday] because Friday the 21st was the end of the 15-day appeal period and the Town Clerk got it yesterday.”

“I was relieved that it came in Monday, but there is still a question of whether it was timely because it may have been in the marshal’s hand in that 15-day period, and there may have been some grace period that is given by the statutes that allows them not to deliver it in 15 days to the town, so [Town Attorney] Ira [Bloom] is researching that. Andrew Glazer of Glazer Group told NewCanaanite.com that he would appeal P&Z’s decision immediately after the group on March 28 denied his application by a 7-2 vote. Glazer had sought to redevelop the property at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road with six single-family homes, and said during an interview just after P&Z’s denial that he was especially disappointed because he had received encouragement from some commissioners to proceed when his plan first came down from eight to seven units, in the fall.

News

‘A Small Purchase of Books’: Roger Sherman Inn as New Canaan’s First Library

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“The people in this place have agreed, many of them, to set up a library and are collecting money to make a small purchase of books.” —from a Jan. 16, 1790 letter from the Rev. Justus Mitchell of New Canaan to Roger Sherman, his wife’s uncle

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Perhaps no commercial enterprise in New Canaan has garnered as much attention in recent months as the Roger Sherman Inn. For good reason. Since hitting the market at $6 million three summers ago, the Oenoke Ridge Road restaurant and inn has been the subject of wide speculation. After lingering on the market for years, a well-known developer materialized last fall as the property’s “contract purchaser,” with a plan to create eight (later modified to six) homes on a 1.8-acre property that, as-of-right, would have just one.

Government
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P&Z Denies Plan for Roger Sherman Inn, Developer Vows To Appeal

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Saying the proposed redevelopment of the Roger Sherman Inn is wrong for its neighborhood and that changes to the New Canaan Zoning Regulations would need to undergo to allow it are too site-specific, officials on Tuesday night by a 7-2 vote denied a plan to replace the Roger Sherman Inn with six single-family homes. Though changing the use of 195 Oenoke Ridge Road from a business to a residence normally would make it more conforming to the regulations, the plan as proposed isn’t “a good trade here, for a lot of reasons” beyond its excessive density, according to Planning & Zoning Commissioner Bill Redman. “One is, it is certainly not like the Maples Inn from years ago, it’s not the same look and feel,” Redman said during a regular meeting of P&Z, held at Town Hall. “Things have changed around town in terms of the types of housing that have gone in. I don’t want to give false hope by saying, ‘Come in with something different.’ I don’t feel that way.

News

Letter: Roger Sherman Neighbor Urges P&Z To Turn Down Developer’s Plan

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With the Planning and Zoning Commission approaching its decision regarding Andy Glazer’s proposed plan for the Roger Sherman Inn property, I want to thank its members for the time they’ve put into deliberating this so carefully. I also want to reiterate a primary concern shared by my neighbors on Holmewood Lane and beyond. When some of us attended the first public hearing several months ago, we feared that minds had already been made up in favor of the project, but the time that’s lapsed since then would suggest that voices of concern have been heard and the matter is getting the careful consideration it deserves. The citizens of New Canaan depend on P&Z and all town officials to protect the property values of existing taxpayers, even when tempted by incremental tax dollars. For the record, this is not about Mr. Glazer or the quality of his work.

News

Roger Sherman Developer Proposes Four-Unit Project

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I first looked at purchasing the Roger Sherman property over 5 years ago while I was building the Maples project next door. Like the Maple Inn the Roger Sherman, though more active in use, was struggling to maintain a business and a physical plant that needed renovation badly in order to keep up with the change in dining habits that have taken place in New Canaan over the last few years. The current owners did not nor do they now have the resources to do what we are doing over at the Silvermine Tavern property which is completely renovate and bring up to the standards that Inn users want and will pay for today. Over these past four years five different deals came and went from some who wanted to either run the restaurant/Inn or develop the property as a multi family project. The Inn buyers turned out to be either complete frauds or tire kickers and the developers wanted to put in anywhere from 14 to 24 units.