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Concerns: density, traffic, town character, and real estate market

Resident Victor Alvarez called the number of proposed units for the 120-unit Merritt Village Residences project “unacceptable” during the New Canaan Planning and Zoning Commission’s public hearing, July 26, at the Town Hall. “I am very much against the project,” said Alvarez, president of the Park Street Condominium Association and one of nine speakers to voice concerns about the project at the meeting. Alvarez also disputed what he said he heard from lawyers involved with the project. “We heard the lawyers say that there’s nothing wrong with density,” Alvarez said. “We’re all familiar with suburban parts of the tri-state area that tend to be overdeveloped, and density has had a major negative impact,” he said. “Real Estate developers have one all-important goal, maximizing profit by maximizing the number of units that need to be built.” “What I believe is a critical point in the town’s development — a town is deteriorated by every incremental unit developed and every increase to the population of the town,” Alvarez said. “Unbridled development in my opinion leads to a race to the bottom. Any project that increases the population of the town will deteriorate the welfare,” he said.

Traffic concern

Alvarez also said he finds it difficult to drive around the vicinity of the proposed project due to the traffic conditions there. “It’s very challenging now,” and said he can’t imagine what it would be like with the new residences. The Merritt Village proposal would have an entrance and exit on Park Street and another set on Maple Street. Alvarez asserted also that the Merritt Village Residences would put a strain on New Canaan’s Public Schools and property taxes will increase. He was also concerned that the project would create a larger strain on the town’s infrastructure, especially with the New Canaan Fire Department and Police Department. The Merritt Village proposal calls for replacing 38 current apartments with about 60 market rate apartments and 60 market rate condominiums. Included in the apartments plan are eight reduced-rate units for local workers. Arnold Karp, a partner in Merritt Village, has said that the expected residents are young professionals and older downsizers, so there would not be many children expected to reside there. Alvarez added that some of his neighbors recently changed their minds and now support the project after hearing that there is a possibility that 300 to 500 units could be proposed for the site if Merritt is not approved and a different developer comes in. “This threat is at best a bully tactic,” he said.

Parking

Attorney Amy Zabetakis, a parishioner at St. Aloysius Church who attended the meeting to gather information about the project, spoke up after listening to a discussion about St. Aloysius and the proposed residences. She expressed concern that Maple Street and the St. Aloysius parking lot will have extra traffic. She said the church’s lot is already “misused” by shoppers and commuters, and could have more traffic during construction of the project, because there will not be enough room on the construction site for construction traffic and the fact that traffic will “spill out onto Maple Street” and potentially into the church’s parking lot. Zabetakis was also concerned that tandem parking system proposed for the underground parking areas, which was described by Dan Grannis from SLAM Collaborative, would have more residents using the “very few” visitor parking spots in the Maple Street Parking Lot, and that more “parking traffic” could go into the St. Aloysius parking lot. Tandem parking effectively blocks in a row cars with another row of parked cars. It is designed for two-car residents who can coordinate their car use. The system is becoming more popular in cities and towns, Karp has said, as a way to reduce space required for parking.

Town character, quality of life

Resident Tom Cavanagh feels the town should preserve the character and quality of life of New Canaan. “What’s really at stake for the town of New Canaan is the character of the town and the quality of life for all of its residents,” Cavanagh said. “Longstanding zoning regulations for the town of New Canaan…have secured a wonderful quality of life for us and our families for all of these years. The maximum height for our residential zones is two-and-a-half stories and 30 feet; the proposed Merritt Residence project for 123 new apartments and condominiums is seeking to change this to four stories, a proposal we should forcefully reject,” he said. “A new four story building will only negatively impact our parking and traffic situation already. “We already know, everyone how difficult it is to get around on Elm Street, Main Street, Pine Street, the train station. He also mentioned the difficulty residents have with trying to find a spot at the town dump to get rid of trash. “If we change our zoning regulations it will negatively impact the quality of life for all New Canaan residents forever,” Cavanaugh said. “Recognize that a newly constructed building is going to be there for at least another 50 years.” Cavanagh compared what could possibly happen in New Canaan, if the Merritt Village residences are built, to what happened to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. over a generation ago, and what he says now has high rises, density, traffic congestion and a “compromised quality of life that (comes) as a result of changing their residential zoning to accommodate the developments that they built.”

Studying traffic

Resident Mike Farrell felt that the amount of analysis done regarding traffic in the area, as handled by state and town traffic engineer John Thompson and traffic engineer for M2 Michael Galante, did not touch on some town streets that drivers go through everyday. “There has not been one word mentioned in all of these analyses and questions,” Farrell said. “How can we possibly say we have just analyzed the hell out of Park Street, Mead Street, South Avenue, Maple Street, but we didn’t pay any attention to the any particular junctions that everybody goes through?” “It seems to be a question (that needs to be) asked and answered,” he said. Farrell referenced the town’s two major road junctions where there is the problem of major gridlock: Park Street and Pine Street, and Park Street and Elm Street. “All the commuters go through these junctions; St. Al people go through the junctions” he said.

Effect on home sales

Emily Restifo, a New Canaan resident and local real estate agent for Houlihan Lawrence, was surprised that the applicants didn’t have answers regarding topics the Commission wanted addressed about condominiums and traffic in New Canaan. She noted that there are 18 active condo listings over $1 million in New Canaan. One listing is pending, and two are available that have been on the market for a long time and have not sold, Restifo said. Seventeen condominiums in New Canaan sold for over $1 million during 2015, according to New Canaan Board of Realtors. In regards to traffic and parking discussions during the public hearings, Restifo said the communication was not very effective. “We were told that parking and traffic were not an issue here,” Restifo said. “We were told, that’s because no one brought it up. They just told us it wasn’t a problem.” Jeanne Rozel, a member of the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and a realtor at Halstead Property in New Canaan, said the Commission should think about whether apartments, condominiums and the project affect the value of New Canaan, and think about the fact that the town’s current number of condominiums, 987, will go over 1,000 in the next six months.

Proximity to neighbors, questions

Al Mathews, who lives at Maplewood condominiums adjacent to the proposed project site at 26 Maple Street, wants the proposed building at the corner of the site to be no closer than the 60 feet that now separates Maplewood from the current Merritt buildings. He said the proposed 28 foot separation between Maplewood and the new building is too close. He also feels there would also be “significant loss of sunlight,” privacy and eight oak trees separating the building. Resident Erika Long felt the project, and the process associated with it should have more transparency. Long had more questions durings the meeting, but Commission Chairman John Goodwin told her to contact Town Planner Steve Kleppin as the public portion of the public hearing is for residents to provide feedback on what they heard commission members and the applicant say, and not for asking questions. After hearing all of this Kip Farrell said she had to speak up and say that she is tired of all of the talk about how “wonderful” everything is going to be when the project is completed, because she felt that everything wasn’t going to be “wonderful.”

“Not going to be marvelous”

“I was not going to say anything, but I’m so tired of hearing how wonderful everything is going to be, and having all this information stuffed down our throats, how marvelous it’s going to be. “It’s not going to be marvelous,” she said. “We don’t really want you to develop this…. You’re going to change the culture of our town.” “I really don’t think you’re considering the culture of our town. We’re a small New England town, barely 20,000 people and we want to stay this way. Why can’t you help us remain this way and understand that this is not what we want?” she said. Merritt Village representatives are expected to come back to the Commission with answers about traffic, the condominium market and parking, at the August 30 meeting.