Government

Specter of Affordable Housing Looms as P&Z Nears Decision on ‘Merritt Village’ Proposal

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New Canaan could use an increase in its in-town housing supply, for seniors, young professionals and, in some cases, families, the head of the Planning & Zoning Commission said Tuesday night. Some families want to live in town and “we can’t tell them where to live,” P&Z Chairman John Goodwin said during the commission’s first discussion of the divisive Merritt Village application since the public hearing on it closed. “I am not convinced that there will be an influx which would overwhelm the schools—I just don’t see the demographics going in that direction and the applicant put on the record some demographics there, so some sort of huge school enrollment spike—I am just not convinced,” he said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “I am convinced that a vibrant town needs to meet the demand and the demand right now is for some in-town housing and I know there is a view that New Canaan should ideally never change—I would love that, too, but the reality is that towns do change and I think quite frankly that we have to worry right now about our village. There is a company called Amazon which is the leader in taking share of retail sales.

Government

‘Take a Big Step Back’: Neighbors, Residents Voice Opposition to Plans for Roger Sherman Redevelopment

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The proposed redevelopment of the Roger Sherman Inn is too dense for its neighborhood and flies in the face of the documents that govern and guide zoning in New Canaan, an attorney representing opponents of the plan said Tuesday night. Creating seven single-family homes on the 1.8-acre lot at 195 Oenoke Ridge Road where the historic inn and restaurant now stand “really is not in keeping with the properties you see along Oenoke Ridge Road,” according to Amy Zabetakis of Darien-based Rucci Law Group. She represents six neighbors of the inn, on Holmewood and Hampton Lanes. “I think you really need to take a big step back and really make sure that this is something you want to encourage in town,” she told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission during the first public hearing regarding the Roger Sherman Inn proposal, held at Town Hall. “I was hoping to come here today that I would hear something from the applicant about how this plan does conform with the Plan of Conservation and Development, how it does conform with existing New Canaan regulations, because I think that is an essential part of your analysis.

Government

‘I Have Let It Go in the Past’: Attorney for Silver Hill Calls Out P&Z Member (and Neighbor) at Public Hearing

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After the neighbor of a Valley Road hospital who also sits on the Planning & Zoning Commission wrangled with an architect over a multi-faceted application during a recent public hearing, an attorney representing the nonprofit institution called out the commissioner, objecting to the way he participated in the proceeding. Thanks largely to open communications with Silver Hill Hospital President and Medical Director Dr. Sigurd Ackerman, members of the Silvermine River Neighborhood Association—a group that formed following a long-running legal battle involving the psychiatric facility—issued no objections to a new plan to rebuild an admissions building and make some other changes, attorney Michael Sweeney said during P&Z’s most recent meeting. “Dr. Ackerman called a meeting with the group, worked through the application with the group, there were comments, and he also reached out to other sections of the various neighborhoods around the property, including up on the hill and to the side, had separate meetings with several neighborhood who called with questions and the silence from the room speaks to what a good job he did,” Sweeney told P&Z commissioners during their June 28 meeting, held at Town Hall. “The sad part about this is that Mr. [Kent] Turner never elects to participate. He has not joined the Silvermine River Neighborhood Association and has not reached out to the hospital, and we invite him to do so.

Government

‘This Is Not a Penal Colony’: P&Z Turns Down Clapboard Hill Road Man’s Bid For Higher Fence To Keep Kids In

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Calling a Clapboard Hill Road man’s reasoning faulty, planning officials on Tuesday denied his bid to erect a 6-foot-high driveway gate and adjoining fence. Roy Savelli of 100 Clapboard Hill Road told members of the Planning & Zoning Commission that the higher-than-allowed gate and fencing would prevent his three young daughters from climbing over and toward the road at a blind curve. Commissioner Laszlo Papp told Savelli that he had a beautiful family “and I certainly appreciate that you are trying to protect them as much as you can.”

“On the other hand, I am somewhat puzzled by your reasoning,” Papp said at the meeting, held at Town Hall. “I have lived here for 60-something years and many generations grow up with no fencing at all. This fencing is a new phenomenon in New Canaan.

Business

‘It Is Absurd’: Planning Officials Call For Re-Worked Sign Proposal on Main Street

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Saying a proposed sign for a pharmacy moving into a vacant Main Street space is too big and loud, planning officials on Tuesday called for a new design. A rendering of the proposal for the front of the Greenwich Pharmacy at 118 Main St. showed a plain red-lettered sign that would “read as a huge billboard,” Planning & Zoning Commission member Kent Turner said at the group’s regular meeting, held in the Town Meeting Room. “This sign really goes from one side of the building to another,” Turner said of the proposal. “This sign is 38 feet long.