News

‘A Nice Improvement There’: Praise for Proposed New Home on Locust Avenue

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The owners of a Locust Avenue home earned praise and approval from zoning officials Monday night after unveiling plans to replace an awkwardly positioned 3-family structure with a taller, 2-family house that encroaches on no setbacks. Chris Taroli purchased the .16-acre lot at 95 Locust Ave. for $500,000 in July, tax records show. The home there dates to 1880, according to tax records, though flat-roof additions have been added onto the side and back, it’s been “cut up in the middle” and when Taroli purchased it, the multifamily structure needed new HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems, had questionable foundations of rumble and unreinforced block and inadequate insulation, he told the Zoning Board of Appeals in a letter and at the group’s regular monthly meeting. The home also encroaches on all setbacks, and Taroli is proposing to build a new one that conforms in terms of those setbacks and coverage, though a variance is required because it would exceed allowable building height.

News

‘Consonance’ on Carter Street: Owners of Historic Silvermine Home Seek To Re-Assemble Barn

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Charles Robinson, owner and resident of one of New Canaan’s oldest and most prominent homes, has a ready analogy to explain the philosophy that he and his wife Sarah embrace as they make improvements to their property. In the nearly 20 years that the Robinsons have owned the 1737-built classic Connecticut saltbox at 4 Carter St.—long known to scores of New Canaanites as “the pumpkin house,” for its former painted color when clapboarded—the couple has taken great pains to respect the antique’s craftsmanship, heritage and aesthetic, preserving and achieving a harmony and consistency with the home that Charles refers to as “consonance.”

“Let’s say you are given a Bentley and it is a 1968 Bentley, the real deal, and it comes with all its flaws but there is also the original leather and handcrafted Bentley engine and all the panels are hand-beat it has been painted with real lacquer,” Robinson said on a recent morning, standing in a clearing on the south side of his property where, until last year, an irreparably sagging barn had stood. “When you have that and you are going to go to put new tires on it, instead of just saying, ‘I am going to go down to Mavis Discount Tire,’ you will stop first and say, ‘I at least better find out what kind of tires were original, and does it pay to do that from the standpoint of value, or am I better off from a safety and utility perspective to get radials and, if so, what radials?’ When you have something that is genuine and you know it is valuable, you stop before you just go paint it pink. You catch yourself and say, ‘With every move I make, I can hurt this if I do not do it as close to right as possible.’ ”

With that in mind, the Robinsons on Tuesday night will seek a Special Permit from the Planning & Zoning Commission that, if granted, will see them erect with some slight modifications an antique barn from Hancock, Mass., that they purchased and had disassembled and which now sits in a weather-protected pile in their yard. Technically, the permit they’re seeking is for a detached “garage” that will exceed 1,000 square feet—see page 53 of the regulations here.

Government

ZBA Roundup: Officials OK Variances for Second-Story Addition, Deck on 1905-Built Green Avenue Home

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The owner of an Orchard Drive home told officials Monday that he’s found a way to work with a neighbor who had voiced opposition to his plan to install an aboveground oil tank within the side yard setback. So long as the tank at 100 Orchard Drive is painted and housed within an enclosure that’s less than six feet high, the opposing neighbor is OK with it, Michael Abrahams told the Zoning Board of Appeals at their regular meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. Abrahams said he spoke to his neighbor on the phone but had no documentation of their exchange. ZBA Secretary Jeanne Rozel said she would be more comfortable if the board had something written from the neighbor, and the item was continued to a future meeting. During its Aug.

Business

Town Officials Approve Outdoor Location for Walk-In Fridge at Silvermine Market (Expanded Menu To Follow)

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Town officials on Monday approved a request from the owner of Silvermine Market to locate a new walk-in refrigerator permanently outside his 1895 building, freeing up more kitchen space inside for a soon-to-expand menu. Noting the narrow lot at 1032 Silvermine Road and saying that the market has coexisted with the Silvermine Arts Guild next-door for many decades, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-0 in favor of granting a variance (which was needed because the walk-in unit is located within a side yard setback). The market’s owner for nearly 10 years, Lou Aloupis, said that following an approximately $25,000 interior renovation, the kitchen has a new hood, grill and pizza oven. He and Chef Scott Kaluczky are perfecting their homemade Neapolitan pizza-making process now and plan to offer it on their menu after Labor Day, and also will add freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs after September, Aloupis said. Silvermine Market customers “are all excited,” he said Tuesday afternoon during the lunch rush.

Government

Zoning Officials Turn Down Ponus Ridge Man’s Proposed Garage

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Citing a next-door neighbor’s concerns about a proposed 20-foot-high garage that would sit entirely in a side yard setback, zoning officials on Monday rejected a Ponus Ridge man’s bid to locate the freestanding structure alongside his 1963-built home. John Finnigan of 366 Ponus Ridge told the Zoning Board of Appeals at its regular meeting that only sensible place for the post-and-beam, two-bay garage was on the south side of his 2,200-square-foot home at 366 Ponus Ridge. Saying his hardships were a one-acre property in the two-acre zone, and that his current driveway cannot be moved around to the roomier side of his home because of leaching fields located there, the homeowner sought a variance that would locate the garage 12.2 feet from the property line in lieu of the required 35. ZBA member John Mahoney said he understood that the placement of the home on the lot was a problem and that he’s “somewhat sympathetic” to the problem of relocating the driveway at great expense, “I do struggle with the amount of the ask in that the whole thing is sitting inside the setback.”

The ZBA voted 5-0 against granting the variance at its meeting, held in the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. The board members aksed whether the homeowner had talked to his neighbors (yes), whether it’s a one-car garage (no, two-car), whether the property includes a well (yes, though it isn’t clear just where it’s located), how tall is the proposed garage (nearly 20 feet at its peak) and whether the garage has a room above (yes, it would include electricity and a ping pong table for the homeowners’ three boys).