Government

Consultants’ Report on ‘Maple Street Burial Grounds’ Addresses Merritt Village Conditions

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Though a tooth, coffin fragments and pieces of arm, finger, leg and pelvis bone turned up following an archeological study of the “Maple Street Burial Grounds,” the only bodies still buried there already have been identified, according to a new report. The body and coffin pieces speak to shoddy work in transferring 13 bodies long ago from the burial grounds to sites such as Lakeview Cemetery, and do not constitute current interments, two experts from a Westport-based archeological and historic structure consulting firm said in a report published last week. As such, construction of a new, 110-unit housing complex approved in November by the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission can proceed with a few basic protective measures, Cece Saunders and Dawn Brown of Historical Perspectives Inc. said in their Feb. 16 report. “The archaeological excavations confirmed the presence of three intact Law family burials, the historic removal of eleven Hoyt-Keeler family burials and the historic removal of two St.

Government

Prospect of Seventh Public Hearing for ‘Merritt Village’ as Cemetery Questions Linger for P&Z

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The owner of the future ‘Merritt Village’ apartment-and-condo complex on the edge of downtown New Canaan is in talks with Planning & Zoning officials about whether yet another public hearing will be needed to sort out whether any of the property to be developed constitutes a cemetery. Approved with 60-plus conditions by the P&Z Commission in November following six public hearings, Merritt Village is to include 110 total units. In December, property owner M2 Partners filed an administrative appeal citing several of the conditions that involve the ‘Maple Street Cemetery.’

The conditions regarding the burial ground are objectionable to M2 because, if upheld, they would require the property owner to seek approval for an amended site plan. P&Z is asking the hopeful property developer to return for a hearing in February, according to New Canaan resident Arnold Karp, a partner in M2. “We are on hold because if they are going to go take a piece of my property, I can’t design a building,” Karp told NewCanaanite.com.

Government

Property Owner Appeals Six Conditions Attached to P&Z’s ‘Merritt Village’ Approval

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The group that owns Merritt Apartments is appealing some of the conditions placed on its hard-won approval to develop the downtown New Canaan site with up to 110 units. M2 Partners is “aggrieved” by six of the 65 conditions that the New Canaan Planning & Zoning Commission imposed on construction of the planned ‘Merritt Village’ complex near Maple and Park Streets, according to an appeal filed Dec. 22 in state Superior Court in Stamford. The conditions—which deal with the ‘Old Burial Ground’ or ‘Maple Street Cemetery,’ underground parking and fencing during construction—have no legal or factual basis and should be revised or deleted, according to the appeal, filed on behalf of M2 by attorney Steve Finn of Stamford-based Wofsey Rosen Kweskin & Kuriansky LLP. A series of conditions regarding the burial ground would appear especially objectionable to M2 because, if upheld, they would require the property owner to seek approval for an amended site plan.

Around Town

181-Year-Old Gravesite of Prominent New Canaan Man Discovered at ‘Maple Street Cemetery’

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The remains of a prominent New Canaan man who died 181 years ago have been found in a previously unsuspected area of the Merritt Apartments property, officials said Thursday. Long ignored and historically important, the ‘Maple Street Cemetery’ was thrust into a spotlight this summer when Merritt’s owners unveiled a dramatic plan to raze the apartment buildings there and build four new ones. Advocates for historic preservation quickly organized, citing state laws that govern burial grounds and calling for a comprehensive study of Maple Street Cemetery itself. When the Planning & Zoning Commission finally approved 110 units for the proposed ‘Merritt Village’ last week, it included conditions designed to protect the cemetery. One of those called for property owner M2 Partners LLC to “conduct further testing” under the state archeologist “to verify that there have been no burials” (as the office of the New Canaan town attorney had asserted) in an area of the cemetery that M2 owned.

Government

P&Z Approves 110 Units for Proposed ‘Merritt Village’ Development

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With mixed feelings and in the most heavily conditioned approval in memory, the Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously in favor of allowing up to 110 units for the planned redevelopment of the Merritt Apartments property on the edge of downtown New Canaan. Though the proposed ‘Merritt Village’ complex came down in the total number of units since an application was filed in June—from 123 as originally planned and 116 as later offered—some parts of its townhouse-style buildings will reach four stories. Despite multiple adjustments from the applicant, M2 Partners LLC, which brought down the height of the development in some of its most conspicuous street-facing areas, the new allowable height—which is to be specific to the Merritt Village development—concerned much of the commission. “I am not happy with it,” P&Z Commissioner Jack Flinn said of the decision. “I really, really wanted to see it stay at the 3-story level and not break the 4-story ceiling with this.