An attorney representing one of New Canaan’s best-established businesses is seeking permission from the town to maintain a rooftop condenser unit that reaches .75 inches higher than regulations allow.
Installed two summers ago, the condenser atop Walter Stewart’s Market also is located about four feet closer to the westerly edge of the roof at 229 Elm St. than allowed in the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, according to an application filed with the town by Steve Finn of Stamford-based Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky LLP.
In making his case for the variance to the Zoning Board of Appeals, Finn noted that “the Walter Stewart’s Market buildings were build prior to the enactment of the zoning regulations” whose limits in the Business A zone on the maximum height of buildings and location of rooftop appurtenances such as the condenser now require formal permission from the town.
“The location and height of the new condenser unit would be in compliance with the zoning regulations up until approximately 1982 when the current restrictions on height first started to appear in the New Canaan Zoning Regulations,” Finn said in a statement of hardship filed on behalf of the market.
“The application of the height requirement retroactively to buildings constructed in 1978 and 1957 would make it virtually impossible to have environmentally efficient up-to-date code and industry-compliant mechanicals necessary to safety operate the Applicant’s grocery store,” he said.
Finn continued: “A hardship results from the amendment to the zoning regulations decreasing the maximum building height which was enacted after the [Applicant] bought the property for its grocery business and constructed the buildings on the site. It would not only be a hardship but unfair to require the Applicant to comply with a zoning regulation which was changed after the property was purchased and the buildings were constructed. Moreover, previously the Applicant had a smoke stack that was approximately 37 feet above average grade which was removed. The smoke stack complied with the zoning regulations at the time it was built.”
The ZBA is scheduled to hear the application at its regular meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Town Hall.
When such applications are made, regulations require that those at neighboring properties are notified.
According to a “letter of complaint” submitted on behalf of six Seminary Street households, a recent renovation at the grocery store has yielded “issues that we strongly believe impact the quality of life and value of our homes.” Those include “a huge noisy, ugly HVAC refrigeration unit on their roof,” the letter said—presumably a reference to the condenser. (The letter also refers to “two new devices that vent cooking odors out [of] their roof,” though it isn’t clear whether those are relevant to the application that the ZBA is to take up Monday.)
According to the letter, the condenser is “noisy and is particularly noticeable at night with a loud hum” as well as “obtrusive.”
“Stewart’s Market is now proposing putting a fence around this HVAC unit to mask it as well as dampening the sound that emanates from it,” the letter said.
Those who signed the letter include Tom and Judy Huang, George and Heidi McEvoy, Chetan and Fatema Mathur, Lou and Ann Kozar, Bert and Rita Holtappels and Rebecca and Doung Truong, all of Seminary Street.
Finn in his application letter notes that “the new condenser unit will be screened on all sides,” as per the New Canaan Zoning Regulations.
“Walter Stewart’s Market Inc. was founded in 1907 and was originally located on Main Street opposite Town Hall,” Finn wrote in the application. “It has been providing groceries to the residents of Town of New Canaan continually since that time. The iconic building at its current location of 229 Elm St. was designed by famous architect Victor Christ-Janet and built in 1957. A number of grocery stores have opened and closed in New Canaan. Currently there are only two grocery stores in New Canaan where previously there have been three or four. It is important to the overall welfare of the residents of New Canaan that grocery stores remain viable and thriving in Town.”
Specifically, Finn is applying for a variance to a section of the Zoning Regulations that require a maximum business height 30 feet or 2.5 stories in the Business A zone, whichever is less, and not eexceptions for rooftop appurtenances of 10 feet above the actual roof level so long as they’re at least 10 feet from any edge of the building (see pages 86 and 90 here).