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.
