Government

Brookwood Lane Property Owner Files Formal Complaint about Neighbor’s Fence

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Months after complaining that a neighbor’s new privacy fence is one inch higher than allowed under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, a Brookwood Lane couple has filed a formal appeal with the town. The fence that runs along a dead-end lane shared by three homeowners presents a safety concern, according to Chris and Carolyn Susanin of 34 Brookwood Lane. “Our primary concern is the safety of our children (6 and 10 years old) and our 2 dogs,” the Susanins wrote in an appeal. “When you are traveling on the accessway, our yard cannot be visualized until you are directly on the property where the fence ends,” according to their written statement of appeal. “This is the point where the fence is at its highest point above finished grade (over 7 feet).

Government

Lockwood Avenue Homeowners Seek Permission To Build Two-Story Rear Addition, Front Porch

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The owners of a 100-year-old Colonial on Lockwood Avenue are seeking permission to put on a two-story rear addition and build a new front porch, changes to the property that would encroach slightly on height and setback limits for the B Residential zone. The house at 23 Lockwood Ave. is a legally non-conforming dwelling that predates the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, according to a variance application filed on behalf of the property’s owners by local attorney David Rucci of Lampert, Toohey & Rucci LLP. The home includes 1,406 square feet of living space, according to the property’s Assessor field card. 

Plans call for a front porch that would sit seven feet from the side yard boundary in lieu of the required eight feet (see page 59 here), and an addition that (at 23 feet) would exceed allowable building height by three feet and total building height (at 27 feet) that would exceed the maximum by two feet (page 63). “The applicant’s proposal is to construct an additional 652 square feet to expand the living space and second floor bedrooms,” Rucci said in the application.

Around Town

Hawthorne Road Homeowners Seek To Replace Ranch-Style Home with Two-Story Structure

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The owners of a ranch-style house on the corner of Hawthorne Road and Meadow Lane are seeking permission to create a two-story home on the lot that includes a front porch. Because it sits on a corner, the single-story home at 36 Hawthorne Road has two front yards, whose required setbacks are larger than side and rear yards in the one-third acre zone (and most others). According to a statement of hardship filed with the town planner by James Schettino of New Canaan-based James Schettino Architects, the proposed two-story home is to be contained in the current building footprint and the project would see an enclosure of the existing covered porch added, as well as covered front entry, mudroom and side porches. The structure predates the current zoning regulations as well as corner lot setback requirements, Schettino noted in the statement. “We believe the proposed additions will fit within the context of the neighborhood and not adversely affect the character of nearby properties,” he said.

Government

Summer Street Homeowners Seek Permission for Second-Floor Garage Addition 

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The owners of a 2,000-square-foot Colonial on Summer Street are seeking permission from the town to build a second-floor addition on their two-car garage. 

Danny and Rosanna Frattaroli need a pair of variances from the New Canaan Zoning Regulations in order to create a two-story garage at 91 Summer St. whose midpoint will reach 19.6 feet and total height will reach 25 feet. Under the New Canaan Zoning Regulations, accessory buildings in the B Residence Zone are limited to a building height of 15 feet and total building height of 20 feet. Additionally, accessory structures are limited to 1.5 stories in the zone (see page 61 here). The Zoning Board of Appeals is scheduled to hear the application at its regular meeting Monday night.

Government

Dispute Between Grace Farms, Neighbors Centers on Use of ‘Operations Center’ Building

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A former municipal employee erred in signing off on a zoning permit for Grace Farms that has allowed for a violation of approved uses at the organization’s Lukes Wood Road campus, according to an appeal now before the town. Former interim Town Planner Keisha Fink in April 2018 approved a zoning permit for an interior renovation at the Grace Farms “Operations Center,” a former residential dwelling just inside the gate to the complex that is to be used only for security and other administrative operations for the property, as well as an accessory apartment. Yet Fink made mistakes in filling out her portion of the zoning permit application form itself, according to an appeal filed on behalf of Grace Farms neighbors Jennifer Holme and David Markatos, and the renovation that followed apparently “was undertaken to provide offices for a recently formed nonprofit corporation, Unchain Foundation, that is operating at Grace Farms.”

“Even though the [Planning & Zoning] Commission has not approved Unchain as an additional principal use at Grace Farms, Unchain recently activated its programming, hosting three separate events at Grace Farms in May and June 2019,” according to a July 24 appeal filed by attorney Amy Souchuns of Stamford-based Hurwitz Sagarin Slossberg & Knuff LLC 

In activity reports that Grace Farms is required to file with the town, the Unchain events are listed as generic ‘justice events’ implicitly attributed to Grace Farms itself, according to the appeal. Such an expanded use should have required formal P&Z approval, not Fink’s administrative sign-off, the appeal said. 

The Zoning Board of Appeals opened the appeal at its Sept. 9 meeting and is expected to take it up again during a regular meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday. 

Though zoning officials, after consulting with town counsel, say the appeal appears to be limited by state law to the Fink-issued permit—and not the building permit and Certificate of Occupancy for the “safety building” that followed—they also appear to concede that Fink made mistakes.