Government

Historic District Officials File Blight Complaint in Connection with Dilapidated 1780-Built Main Street Home

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The volunteers that oversee New Canaan’s historic district—roughly the area around God’s Acre—are calling on town officials to consider a blight citation for a neglected antique home on Main Street. Tied up in lawsuits and foreclosure proceedings that recently became even more complicated due to a procedural error in court, the 1780-built Greek Revival-style house at 4 Main St. has been vacant for at least three years, officials say. At their most recent meeting, members of the Historic District Commission voted to contact New Canaan’s building official, invoking the town’s Blight Abatement and Prevention Ordinance. According to a letter that the commission’s secretary, Terry Spring, filed at Town Hall, the property “has been of concern to the Commission for some time and we note that there has been no improvement in the deteriorating condition of the historic house and grounds.”

“We note the property appears abandoned, the exterior building condition shows general damage and dilapidation of the structure.

Government

Neighboring Commercial Property Owner Pursues Appeal to Certificate of Occupancy for Town Hall

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Saying a pair of chillers located alongside Town Hall fail to comply with an original site plan for the newly renovated and expanded structure, a commercial property owner adjacent to the public building is challenging its Certificate of Occupancy. The Planning & Zoning official who issued the CO “exceeded his authority” and “acted impermissibly” in two ways, according to an appeal filed at Town Hall by attorney Stuart Johnson on behalf of Terry Spring, town resident and managing partner of Cody Real Estate LLC—which owns the commercial buildings on Main from the former Varnum’s Pharmacy building across to the Baskin-Robbins space, including the parking lot behind them. “As constructed, the expanded Town Hall fails to comply with its approved site plan because no noise barrier exists surrounding the chiller units and standby generator on the south side of the building as depicted on the approved site plan,” according to a Statement of Reasons for Appeal. It continues: “As constructed, the expanded Town Hall fails to comply with the special permit issued to the Town of New Canaan because the chiller units and standby generator are placed on the ground at the south side of the Town Hall building, contrary to the plans presented to the Planning & Zoning Commission when the special permit application was granted March 26, 2013.”

The dispute between Spring and the town around the chillers goes back more than one year. She originally had objected to the issuance of a variance to New Canaan’s noise ordinance for the chillers, saying they would be prohibitively loud is she were to develop her commercial properties to include second-floor residential units.

Government

Officials Invoke Prospect of Blight Citation for God’s Acre Antique

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Officials are investigating whether they may invoke New Canaan’s blight ordinance to prompt action from the owner of a vacant and seemingly neglected antique home on God’s Acre. The 1780-built Greek Revival-style home at 4 Main St. is being foreclosed upon, and a civil lawsuit filed by the bank has been tied up in court for three years. Members of the New Canaan Historic District Commission, long fearful that the prominent home would fall into such a poor state that it would be deemed uninhabitable and face the wrecking ball, said Thursday that they intend to find out whether the home could be cited for blight. “I think we should do that, so that we understand what we can reasonably do,” Commissioner Terry Spring said at the group’s meeting, held at the New Canaan Historical Society.

Government

‘Beautifully Executed’: Exterior Changes to Antique Colonial on God’s Acre Approved

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Saying the proposed exterior changes to an antique Colonial on God’s Acre will restore a ca. 1888 home to something more closely resembling the original structure, town officials on Thursday unanimously approved an application from the owners of 35 Main St. Historic District Commissioner Tom Nissley described the application from Joseph Riker and Susan Staudt—whose plans for the gabled home call for the softening of a boxy, non-integrated 1960s- and ’70s-era addition at the rear, as well as the re-introduction of original-style windows—as “very well prepared” and “beautifully executed.”

“I would like to comment on how good it looks,” Nissley said at the meeting, held at the New Canaan Historical Society. New Canaan’s historic district encompasses 21 buildings near and around God’s Acre, including the Riker and Staudt home at 35 Main. Before structures within the district undergo exterior changes, approval is required from the commission (see Town Code, Chapter 31-6).

Government

As Renovated Town Hall Takes Shape, a Dispute Arises between Neighboring Commercial Property Owner, Town

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A variance to New Canaan’s noise ordinance—secured by public works officials by way of locating beside the expanded Town Hall a pair of large chillers to support the structure—is at the center of a disagreement between an abutting commercial property owner on Main Street and the town. According to Terry Spring, a town resident and managing partner of Cody Real Estate LLC—which owns the commercial buildings on Main from the former Varnum’s Pharmacy building across to the Baskin-Robbins space, including the large lot behind them—the chillers will emit noise that could undermine her family’s efforts to develop the property. Specifically, Spring said, the increased noise could hamper her ability to convert her buildings into “mixed use” structures that include ground-floor commercial space and upper-story apartments. First Selectman Rob Mallozzi disputes those claims, saying the chillers themselves contain mechanisms that minimize noise to what is still a low level and that Spring’s challenge stems in fact from frustration about a separate matter. Specifically, he said, Spring’s talks with the town this summer about installing a parking deck on her property—which would have helped create much-needed access between her lot and Town Hall’s—eventually broke down, a frustration exacerbated as the chillers now are located in a spot that blocks what had been an accessway between the lots. (The $18 million renovation is on time and budget, officials say.)

The state Freedom of Information Commission has granted a hearing to Spring, who is seeking all correspondence surrounding the New Canaan Department of Public Works’ Nov.