The local man who is building the 110-unit Merritt Village complex at the edge of downtown New Canaan is asking for time and rationality from residents complaining about a short stretch of retaining wall that has sprung up along Park Street.
Merritt Village is not yet 1 percent finished, according to Arnold Karp of Karp Associates, who won approval for the landmark project two years ago following several months of hearings before the Planning & Zoning Commission.
“There is a million-dollar planting plan that obscures and hides the walls,” he told NewCanaanite.com. “Before everybody becomes an architectural critic, let us build the project. We’ve put in 215 feet of wall and have gotten a thumbs-up from some of those who drive by and some nasty comments through New Canaanite. Let us continue to work before you criticize it. It is an $80 million project and there is a lot more going on. Plantings will obscure most of the walls.”
The negative feedback on the retaining wall sprung up on an article that had nothing to do with Merritt Village. Under a story covering a Town Council committee meeting with this headline—‘Do We Want Our Town To Look Like That?’: Officials Eye Illegal Signs in New Canaan—reader Laura King wrote, “Under the same headline you could publish a picture of the new faux cement wall being built at a large construction site on Park Street.” (New Canaanite requires all of those who publish comments to use full and verifiable names.)
Other comments followed, including one from William Taylor saying the wall looked “tacky.”
“I hope Arnold will consider changing the faux, cut-stone wall along Park Street,” Taylor said in the comment.
Town Council Chairman John Engel said the legislative body also has received concerns from residents about the wall, and he invited Karp to address the group during its regular meeting Wednesday night.
Karp noted that the buildings themselves will be done with natural stone and cedar shingles and that it’s in his own best interests to ensure Merritt Village—which will include 50 units for sale and 59 rentals, and should be finished in the spring or summer of 2020—is very attractive.
“I am not going anywhere—I have 30 years in town and another 30 hopefully, in town,” Karp said during the meeting, held at Town Hall.
He added that he understands people are concerned given that the retaining wall is the very first part of the project to get done, but that’s only because Merritt Village’s developers are eager to get the adjacent sidewalk work done by winter.
Karp noted that many of the concerns expressed during the P&Z hearings were about the safety of children with large trucks moving around, and now with half the dirt has been moved off of the Merritt Village site, no such concerns have re-emerged.
“I understand the concern but at this point it is very difficult to comment with so little done,” Karp said.
He added: “Let us get further down the road.”
The jump to the gunners are quickly back in action again with comments like “a tacky, ugly faux wall” describing what Merritt Village is putting up on Park St. before it is even completed and before plantings are put in to hide most of it. Mike … or the Karps … do you have a photo that can be published of that part of the road before any work was done? It certainly looked worse than anything Merritt Village might do.
If you want to see how the finished product blends in, just drop by Zumbachs Coffee and look out the side/parking lot door at the “tacky, ugly faux wall” and see how it nicely blends in.
Lets give Karp a break (for a change) and see how the place looks when it’s finished!
I’ll see if I have a photo somewhere, George, I might.
As you know, many raised objections during the Planning & Zoning Commission hearings—for example, to the height, appearance and density of Merritt Village, for reasons ranging from its impact on property values and the housing market to traffic, school enrollment and sight lines in winter—and ultimately this project changed in scope, from 190 units to 110. The P&Z approval also came with a record number of conditions. If opponents to Merritt Village think that the developer is not building what was approved by P&Z, they can go to Town Hall, review the plans and bring those concerns to building officials. Short of that, throwing rocks at the developer himself or pooh-poohing a complex that has not yet materialized says far more about the critic than Karp himself, I would imagine.
Sorry, Michael, but Karp was the one reportedly throwing the rocks!
I don’t recall reporting on anyone throwing rocks, surely that would have been a public police matter.
This thread is closed.