The owners of a commercial property on Cross Street have applied to the town for permission to open a retail scooter business in a 1963-built service shop structure on the edge of a residential neighborhood.
A look at the proposed site for ‘Scooters of New Canaan’ on Cross Street.
Santo Silverstro is planning to open the new shop—“Scooters of New Canaan,” according to a proposed sign—at 35 Cross St., a .24-acre parcel in the Business B zone.
“The existing use of 35 Cross Street is a mechanical shop and related office space,” Silvestro wrote in the application filed on behalf of 35 Cross Street LLC, a limited liability company of which he and his wife, Lynda Silverstro, are principals.
“The proposed use of 35 Cross Street will be a mechanical shop and relayed office space, as well as a retail scooter shop and related office space. There will be no interior changes. The previous tenant was Enterprise Rental Car which occupied the space from 2006 to 2016. The office consists fo approximately 200 square feet, plus or minus a few feet. The parking will be provided on site.”
The parcel is located in the Business B zone. Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, a property owner with site plan approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission may pursue “specialty sales and services which would be in keeping with the service business nature and stated purpose of the zone” (see page 78).
P&Z is scheduled to take up the application at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall.
Under the regulations, P&Z is required to refer to the Cross and Vitti Streets Neighborhood Master Plan in considering the application.
Town Planner Lynn Brooks Avni noted in her memo to the Commission that “most of the buildings in this zone are small and were designed for commercial uses, primary vehicle operations.”
“Most of the buildings in this district were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s when this area developed as a commercial service district,” Brooks Avni said in her memo.
She added: “The proposed lease of the existing office space, the former Enterprise Car Rental is in keeping with the other commercial uses in the district. According to the Applicants, no exterior renovations are proposed or planned, save a new sign which will replace the Enterprise Car Rental sign. The new sign is in keeping with the character of the district and with the existing property and it does not detract from this commercial services. Staff recommends approval of this application as the proposal is in keeping with the character of the district and the addition of another retail store in downtown is good.”
I am sure I don’t understand. This area of town seems ripe for modernization and commercial (and maybe residential) development. Are we doomed to maintain unsightly buildings built in the 1950’s.