Saying it’s needed for pedestrian safety and to accommodate use during peak hours, the YMCA is seeking to expand a parking lot along the side of its South Avenue building by 20 spaces.
Fewer than 5% of the Y’s current 247 space are available when the nonprofit organization is busiest, according to an application filed with the Planning & Zoning Commission.
“Cars circling the parking lot looking for a parking space create an unsafe condition for pedestrians, many of them children, and may invite patrons to park on South Avenue or Putnam Road,” according to a letter that accompanied site plan and Special Permit applications filed on the Y’s behalf by attorney Ted O’Hanlan of Stamford-based Robinson+Cole.
In approving the Y’s extensive renovation five years ago, P&Z noted that if more parking is needed, the organization should submit a site plan along those lines, O’Hanlan noted.
“That time has arrived and is motivated by genuine concern for safety and convenience,” he said. “No increase in either programs or membership has motivated these applications.”
The application includes a traffic study that “clearly demonstrates that more on-site parking will better serve the YMCA’s existing parking demand.”
“The traffic analysis states that, because the YMCA is not adding any new programs, there will be no increase in trip generation to and from the property, and, therefore, no traffic impact on South Avenue and the surrounding street network,” O’Hanlan said.
Plans call for 20 striped parking spaces on what the applicant is calling the “south side of the building,” running roughly parallel to Putnam Road. The spaces are to be used by Y staff and “as overflow parking for patrons.” Two new landscape islands with curbing are to be installed, along with a 6-foot-high wooden fence, forsythia hedge and access gate for emergency vehicles. Plans to screen the expanded lot were made more robust following meetings with neighbors, the application said.
P&Z is expected to take up the application at its Jan. 28 meeting.
The Commission’s approval is needed for the site plan and Special Permit, as the project will disturb an area of more than 10,000 square feet of soil.
The project would take about eight weeks to complete after sediment and erosion control measures are finished. The Y is seeking permission from P&Z to include grass turf in the northern landscape island, which is to be constructed within a Tennessee Gas Line easement, and also to allow for 11 contiguous parking bays in lieu of the maximum of 10 allowed in the regulations. Having 11 spaces would allow the Y to leave an underground catch basin drainage pipe in place.
“Permission from the Commission to modify this parking lot layout standard will save construction time and dollars for the YMCA, a non-profit agency serving the New Canaan community,” O’Hanlan said in the application.