Government

‘Merritt Village’ Unveiled: New Details, Concerns from Neighbors Emerge at First Public Hearing of Proposed Development

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In considering a dramatic proposal to create up to 123 condos and apartments in an area at the edge of downtown New Canaan where 38 now exist, the town should find out how such a project would impact other property values, officials said Tuesday. Filed this month on behalf of M2 Partners, which owns a combined 3.29-acre parcel fronting Maple and Park Streets—and viewable here on the town website through a dropdown menu—plans for ‘Merritt Village’ call for four 4-floor multi-family dwellings that will include 60 townhouse-style condos and 62 midrise apartment units. According to Planning & Zoning Commission member Tony Shizari, a question central to the project’s merit is: “What will be the impact on the market of introducing several hundred thousand square feet of additional living space?”

“The question goes to the impact on property values,” Shizari said during a regular meeting of P&Z, held at Town Hall. “There are a lot of condos there—although I totally agree that we need single-floor access … But adding 90 units to what is allowable right now, what does that do to that surrounding area? Because that’s a lot of condos right there.

Around Town

New Canaanites Help Drive ‘Fairfield County Hospice House’ Project

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STAMFORD—New Canaan’s Julia Portale stood on the grass verge just off of this residential road in Stamford on Tuesday afternoon, the Douglas fir frame of a new structure rising on the 1.3-acre lot behind her. Known in New Canaan as a longtime Girl Scouts leader who taught Sunday School at the Congregational Church and now serves on the New Canaan Land Trust’s board of directors, Portale holds master’s degrees (from Yale) in both public health and business administration. For the last few years, she’s been running a home care hospice program in Fairfield—and, next year if all goes as Portale and a host of advocates for this project off of the Merritt Parkway’s Exit 33 are planning, she’ll be running a new type of hospice program that will serve New Canaan and other area families. “This is the setting that is the next best thing to home for people who are dying and who do not need intensive care, do not need facility-level care and can’t stay at home,” Portale said from the future site of Fairfield County Hospice House (see rendering at right), where she will serve as executive director. “If patients cannot stay at home, it is an opportunity for them to be in a home environment, a house that allows family to come in and spend quality time with loved ones in a home setting.”

Founded and governed by a nonprofit organization that’s been actively fundraising, site-seeking and otherwise galvanizing support for four years, Fairfield County Hospice House is expected to meet a pressing need that affects scores of area families.

Government

‘Try To Have a Dialogue’: Following Complaints, P&Z Urges Talks Between YMCA, Neighbors

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Officials are urging the YMCA and neighborhood residents to communicate directly with each other and regularly, after some who live near the facility lodged complaints with Planning & Zoning that conditions of a major renovation, now underway, are not being met. Specifically, residents of eight homes on Surrey Road, Putnam Road and Danvers Lane told P&Z in a recent letter and in person Tuesday night that the Y now that construction is underway isn’t complying with conditions regarding sidewalk repair, safety monitors, screening, drainage and traffic. P&Z Chairman John Goodwin during the group’s regular monthly meeting that the town “can’t police everything” and asked the parties “to try to have a dialogue and see if you can’t work out a lot of these things.”

“My own personal take from reading the respective letters is that technically the Y has not done certain things, but on the other hand there is logic as to why they have not done some things here and now,” Goodwin said at the meeting, held in a Town Hall board room. P&Z in April 2014 approved the Y’s estimated $20 million project on 37 conditions (see meeting minutes here). Construction started about three weeks ago, and is expected to last about 18 months.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Boricua Soul Trailer
 

1996 New Canaan High School graduate Toriano Fredericks is about halfway to his $15,000 goal in an online fundraising campaign in support of his vision for a food truck in the Durham area of North Carolina that features “bold flavors mixing Southern Soul, Caribbean Flair and Euro-African Roots.” Tori is a fellow Parade Hill Road native and we absolutely wish him the very best of luck in his venture. His “Boricua Food Truck” (nicknamed the “The Soul Patrol,” you can “like” his business here on Facebook) is named “from the Taíno name for Puerto Rico, Boriquen, Boricuas were the natives who lived in what is known today as Puerto Rico,” the business’s website says. “Puerto Rican Boricua means ‘Brave and noble lord.’ Borinquen means ‘Land of the brave and noble lords.’ ” Check out the video above for more of Toriano’s story, and click here for information on how to back his venture through Kickstarter. Good luck, Tori! ***

Firefighters at 7:17 p.m. last Thursday responded to a report of a fire at the Playhouse on Elm Street after a smoke detector in the lobby was triggered.

Government

‘It’s a Phenomenal Group’: New Canaan Democrats Endorse Candidates for Local Offices at Caucus

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An estimated 30 to 40 registered Democrats in New Canaan on Tuesday night gathered for a caucus at Lapham Community Center to endorse party candidates seeking local offices this coming Election Day. Those in attendance by voice vote endorsed incumbent Beth Jones for selectman, Joe Paladino (incumbent) and Jim Kucharcyzk for Town Council, Brendan Hayes for Board of Education, Gerry Harrington (incumbent) for Board of Assessment Appeals and Cindy Franco, Arnold Karp and Ed Vollmer for constable (all incumbents). “It’s a phenomenal group of people,” Democratic Town Committee Chair Jane Himmel told NewCanaanite.com in a phone interview following the caucus. “Beth works so hard and has the biggest heart and is as much the soul of the town as anybody. We’re thrilled Joe is returning to the Town Council and Jim has so much experience and done so many different things.