Government

Property Owner Seeks To Build Two-Family Home on Locust Avenue

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The owner of a vacant, narrow lot on the edge of downtown New Canaan is seeking permission to build a two-family home on the .27-acre property. The town 15 years ago issued a demolition permit for the house that had stood at 102 Locust Ave. In May 2013, the town issued its then-owner a permit to build a new 4,000-square-foot single-family home there, but the owner never came in to pay for it, building records show. The next month, a limited liability company whose principals live in Rye, N.Y. bought the vacant lot for $520,000. That company—Imperial Real Estate Holdings LLC—has filed an application for a variance in order to build what appears to be a single two-family dwelling running the length of the lot, near the intersection of Locust at Hillside Avenue.

Government

ZBA Grants Variance for Improvements at Brinkerhoff Avenue Home

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The Zoning Board of Appeals recently approved a variance paving the way for improvements to a single-family home located at 7 Brinkerhoff Ave. Mario Lopez of ML Builders, on behalf of homeowner Ed Ku, presented plans for improvements to the circa-1918 home during the ZBA’s most recent meeting on Nov. 6. Ku plans to change the pitch of the home’s roof from 7 feet to 14 feet and add a 56 sq. ft.

News

ZBA Green-Lights New Two-Family Home on East Avenue

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The Zoning Board of Appeals on Monday approved two variances allowing for the construction of a two-family home at 72 East Ave.—however, the project still needs approval from the Planning & Zoning Commission in order to move forward. William Panella plans to raze an existing 1,400-square-foot home on the property, where his late mother Mary had lived, and remove a non-compliant detached garage in the rear in order to build a new, residential style, two-family dwelling measuring about 4,000 square feet. However, in order to get a special permit for the project he needed relief from a requirement that the property have a minimum of 100 feet of frontage (it has only 93 feet) and that the site allow for a conceptual 100-foot diameter “circle” of open area where there is no building footprint (the “circle” is just short at 97 feet) —both of which were granted at the ZBA meeting. The application was continued from the board’s October meeting after some board members expressed concerns over the driveway shown in a preliminary site plan. The initial plan showed the driveway running from East Avenue all the way to the rear of the property, where it was to connect with the parking lot for a new residential and commercial development currently underway at 23 Vitti St.

Government

ZBA Grants Height Relief for Addition on Lincoln Drive Home

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The Zoning Board of Appeals at its most recent meeting granted two variances allowing for the construction of an addition at 37 Lincoln Drive. Homeowners Robert and Catherine Pangrossi are planning to construct a 2.5-story addition, as well as a second floor addition over an existing garage and a rear wood deck, at their 1966-built Colonial. But they needed a variance for the height of the dormers, which will be about 33 feet in the rear of the house, due to a slope on the property, as opposed to the maximum allowable height of 30 feet. They also requested a setback variance of the ZBA because the addition, as planned, will encroach very slightly into a side yard setback. Robert Pangrossi, who came before the board Oct.

News

ZBA Green Lights Small Addition in Harrison Avenue Development

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The Zoning Board of Appeals at its most recent meeting granted a variance allowing Don Corbo of Darien to build a small addition at 138 Harrison Ave.—one of six units in the development, consisting of three two-family homes near Main Street. Corbo, managing partner of Harrison Avenue Development, told members of the ZBA at their Oct. 2 meeting that he is converting the homes—purchased this summer for $4.2 million— from rentals to condominiums, and thus is seeking to renovate and update them. “This particular unit is the smallest and least attractive of the units,” he said during the meeting, held at Town Hall. “Right now it has only one room on the first floor which serves as a living room, dining room and kitchen.”

The plan, he said, is to build a small addition that will allow for a separate kitchen area on the ground floor and a master bedroom on the second floor.