Here’s the full text (as prepared) of Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman John Sini’s State of the Town Address to the Representative Town Meeting on Monday:
Good evening Mister Moderator, Members of the RTM, town officials, and my fellow community members here and watching via TV-79.
Photo from Darien TV79
John Sini, chairman of the Planning & Zoning Commission
I am John Sini, the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission. I am honored to be here with you this evening in order to deliver this year’s State of the Town address on behalf of our Commission.
Before we get started, I would like congratulate the Darien Varsity Football Team and Coach Rob Trifone in closing its second perfect season in a row with Saturday’s State Championship win. I want you all to know that they have spread lots of ‘Blue Wave Pride’ throughout our entire community.
Like all of you here tonight, I am proud to share in the spirit and tradition of civic volunteerism, which makes this community so very special. Every time I step into this auditorium, I often reflect upon Norman Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech painting and wanted to share this image as I kick things off.
I plan to share my enthusiasm related to what is in store for Darien’s future from a planning, development, and infrastructure perspective. Before I do that, I want to give you an update on our Commission and share a few words of appreciation.
Our Commission has made a couple internal adjustments over the last several weeks with Commissioner Jim Rand’s appointment to fill the position created by Richard DiDonna’s resignation. We also elected a new slate of officers. I was elected Chair, Eric Voigt is now our Vice Chair and Steve Olvany is our Secretary. Commissioners Kevin Cunningham and Susan Cameron round-out the rest of our line-up.
One of my primary objectives serving as Chairman is to begin a new era of collaboration with other elected town officials for strategic and project planning. My message to the three of you here tonight, is that it is in the best interest of our community to include our Commission in your initial planning discussions. We have the expertise and land use regulation tools to help you reach your project goals.
Our Commission has a rigorous meeting schedule each year – conducting up to 35 public meetings, along with site visits and related research. Since I joined the Commission in November 2013, we have reviewed over 210 applications.
I deeply appreciate the energy and dedication my fellow commissioners’ put into serving our community. Our meetings often run late into the evening, but the team continuously pushes forward with an attitude of respect and teamwork. Susan Cameron deserves a special recognition for the 15-years she has volunteered for Darien’s land use boards, with the last three as our chair.
Of course, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything without the Planning and Zoning Department staff under the direction of Jeremy Ginsberg. We should all be grateful for the department’s steadfast work on behalf of our community.
Not to be forgotten is the several additional volunteers that serve on Darien’s other land use boards, including the Environmental Protection Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Architectural Review Board, as well as our Town Historian. Without their efforts, our Commission’s work would be significantly encumbered.
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The rest of Darienite.com’s coverage of the State of the Town Addresses:
- The State of Darien as Seen in Four State of the Town Addresses Monday Night Before the RTM
- State of the Town Addresses for 2016: Part 1, First Selectman Jayme Stevenson’s
- State of the Town Addresses for 2016: Part 2, Finance Board Chairman Jon Zagrodzky’s
- State of the Town Addresses for 2016: Part 3, Board of Education Chairperson Michael Harman’s
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Last but not least, I am especially grateful to my wife Michelle, and our three boys: Luke, Connor, and Jake. Without their support and understanding, I would not have the ability to dedicate so much of my time to serve our community.
It is important to take a moment to reflect on how privileged our town is on several fronts. Darien is filled with smart, dedicated, and selfless residents that volunteer an extraordinary amount of their time, effort and money to great local causes.
Our local government has a successful track record of executing partnerships with private organizations. A perfect example of this is our nationally-renown Darien Library.
Darien’s charitable organizations, such as The Darien Foundation, the Nature Center, The Tree Conservancy, The Athletic Foundation, the YMCA, and the Land Trust (just to name a few) have an immeasurable positive impact to our surroundings and quality of our lives within our community. I’m committed to working closely with private organizations that have a mission of improving our infrastructure, generously making Darien better place every day.
One of latest examples of the boundless generosity offered within this town is the pending application to designate the six-acre Mather Homestead property as a Protected Town Landmark. The site has been listed on the National Registry of Historic Places since 1964 and the surrounding meadows have already been secured as open space. The plan is to preserve the site in its historic condition in perpetuity and use it as a historical resource. Several of the key individuals responsible for this tremendous effort are direct descendants of Moses Mather, whose image appears in the murals above us, and Stephen Mather, founder and first Director of the National Park Service.
Darien is also extremely fortunate as a result of the ongoing interest for commercial and residential redevelopment. This redevelopment continues to set Darien apart from several of its surrounding communities and allows our town to reach a new level of vibrancy in both our residential neighborhoods and business districts.
One example of this new-found vibrancy is in the downtown’s Grove and Day Street area. The arrival of the Darien Butcher, Fjord Fish Market, Le Boudoir, and Blue Mercury complimented the existing activities within Grove Street Plaza. This business development would not have occurred without collaboration with the Board of Selectman on refining the Grove Street lot parking policy.
Another one of my goals is to work closely with the Police Commission to enhance our business districts’ pedestrian safety and on-street parking to make downtown an even better destination.
The Three Major Commercial Development Proposals
As you all know, we have three major development proposals that the Commission is in various stages of addressing. I envision they will likely deliver our community value creation, economic vitality, housing diversity, and enhanced community gathering places.
First, an update on the Baywater Proposal at the corner of Corbin Drive and Boston Post Road:
This past fall, after several public hearings and deliberation sessions, the applicant withdrew the first application for the necessary regulation amendments that were primarily related to building height and parking. However, a follow-up application has been filed and the public hearing has been scheduled for January 10, 2017.
After the Commission makes its regulation change finding, the next steps would be a review by the Architectural Review Board and a site plan/special permit application to the Commission.
I can assure you, our Commission is very well aware of the community support for redevelopment in this area. We look forward to working closely with the applicant in order to strike the right balance of maintaining the proper scale and character for our suburban downtown while allowing for this area’s redevelopment.
Second, early next year we expect to review plans for the reconstruction of both the Palmer and Federal Realty properties in Noroton Heights Business District. The Commission already modified zoning regulations of the area’s business district earlier this year to enable its redevelopment.
The Palmer Family’s application is for a site plan and special permit for redevelopment of the area on Heights Road in proximity to Hollow Tree Ridge Road. The new buildings are proposed as mixed-use, including restaurant, retail, and residential uses. The first public hearing for this proposal will be January 24, 2017.
Federal Realty’s intention is to create another mixed-use development in the area of Stop & Shop and Walgreens. The Planning and Zoning staff has already met informally with Federal’s development team and the Commission expects to see a formal application sometime in the next few months.
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Here’s the video of the RTM meeting from Darien TV79 (lasts 1 hour, 20 minutes):
RTM State of The Town 12-12-16 from Darien TV79 on Vimeo.
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Other Proposals
Beyond the three more well-known proposals in town, there are a few other projects I also want to mention this evening:
In 2016, the Commission rezoned a 3.7-acre property to the east of the Avalon Apartment complex and adjacent to the Connecticut Turnpike to allow for the construction of a self-storage facility. This property has been vacant for several decades because it has unique characteristics that restricted its possibilities for development – foremost, the inability to tie into the sewer system. Work is already underway on this project and its completion is expected by the end of 2017.
Upon its completion, the property will consist of a three-story self-storage facility and a smaller building for the office onsite employee living quarters, and the creation of over a dozen commuter parking spaces, conveniently located across the street from the Noroton Heights Train Station. Facilities like these are typically viewed by traffic experts as a low intensity use.
In late 2015, the Commission made changes to the Noroton Neighborhood Business Zone (for those that aren’t aware, it is generally the area by the Post Road and Noroton Avenue intersection). The Commission has already approved a new two-story retail and residential building which is now under construction across the street from Papa Joe’s. A similar application for the adjacent property is expected to be brought before the Commission in early 2017.
Even though I am a huge Burger Shakes & Fries fan, I’d be remiss not to mention the fact that Shake Shack on the Post Road is expected to open just after the New Year thanks to approvals from both our Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals.
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The Commission is also in the midst of its review of the Department of Public Works Garage expansion project and recently approved the Paramedic Station at 701 Post Road.
Two weeks ago, we closed the public hearing for the Darien High School Stadium Lights proposal and expect to deliver a decision by the end of January.
Finally, we are working with other town agencies on key environmental issues, such as costal resource management.
Unfortunately, our commission can’t affect Connecticut’s misguided Income Tax and Estate Tax policies, which are far from being competitive with other states. These taxes are unnaturally influencing age-demographics in towns like Darien by propelling older and typically wealthier residents to move to lower-tax regions of our country.
Our younger population poses unique challenges related to school population growth, school facilities, fields and gym space, playgrounds, field lights, and the desire to have a town aquatics center.
Board of Education Chair, Michael Harmon plans to discuss this topic in greater detail this evening. However, as long as Darien maintains its reputation of a great place to live work, and play, these challenges will be unavoidable.
Redevelopment, or “suburban renewal,” as Commissioner Olvany likes to call it, has had a tremendously positive impact on Darien’s fiscal well being by helping to increase the size of Darien’s grand list.
As this chart shows, the grand list has appreciated from close to $3 billion in 1995 to almost $8.5 billion today. This kind of value creation is extremely important in maintaining Darien’s fiscal vitality, something that our Board of Finance Chairman Jon Zagrodsky, is going to cover.
Housing for Seniors
Over the past few years, our Commission guided and approved a number of zoning changes and projects that better appeal to the housing demands of empty-nesters and seniors in the hopes that they too will find Darien an attractive place to stay:
- The Active Senior Overlay Zone was recently established at the corner of on the former site of the Knobel Brothers hardware store at the corner of Locust Hill and Settler’s Trail. Six attractive, age-restricted town houses have been constructed. As part of the project, the developer also improved the street’s sight line and provided two offsite, affordable housing units.
- Kensett’s Phase 1 is complete with the construction of 62 town house units. Kensett’s Phase 2 construction is now well underway, creating an additional 14 units. This Commission set stricter guidelines in order to target more senior households. This part of the project also resulted in three offsite, affordable units.
- In early 2016, the Commission approved the enlargement of Atria on Ledge Road. That work has commenced, and will be completed next year.
- Maplewood, at the corner of Boston Post Road and Brookside Road, has an application pending to enlarge their existing three-story building, with a net increase of 31 new assisted living/memory care units and a much improved driveway to enhance traffic safety in the area.
- The transformation of the Parkland Office Park adjacent to Selleck’s Woods will soon begin as one of its office buildings will be fashioned into new combination assisted living/memory care facility containing a total of 105 units. Construction is expected to start in early 2017.
- The Commission continues to guide the development of affordable housing at appropriate locations in town. The recent increase in affordable housing supply has primarily been related to working in partnership with private developers. This has allowed Darien to continue to make great strides in providing deed-restricted affordable housing within its borders, yet with limited impact to taxpayers.
Affordable Housing
This past October, the Town secured enough points for a second moratorium that will be in place until October 2020. It is important to highlight that Darien is only one of three communities in the State to achieve two moratoria. Our success on this front was achieved by a concerted, non-partisan team effort within our local government and Town Hall staff.
Also related to Darien’s affordable housing efforts:
- Several years ago the town implemented an Inclusionary Zoning regulation that requires new, larger multi-unit developments to establish a significant number of affordable units. Our Commission recently modified this regulation’s income requirements to match those required by State Statute ensuring we received proper credit for new affordable units.
- With the Corbin, Palmer, and Federal Realty projects on the horizon, we expect to see numerous new affordable units by means of their Inclusionary Zoning requirements.
- Knobel Hill’s two offsite, deed-restricted affordable units were created on Leroy Avenue and Kensett’s three offsite affordable units on Hoyt Street.
- Pemberton 16, at the corner of Leroy Avenue and West Avenue is nearing completion. The State Superior Court Judge, who overturned the Commission’s denial of the project eight years ago, approved the senior restricted 8-30(g) building you see today. You may find that the height, bulk, density, site lines, and landscaping don’t quite fit in as well as you may expect if our Commission and staff had the opportunity to review the site plan.
- The Redevelopment plan for Old Town Hall Homes on Post Road was enabled by the implementation of the Municipal Use Zone, which provided The Darien Housing Authority with more flexibility for the project. The new building will provide 55 senior affordable units, adding 25 units to the Town’s affordable housing stock.
- The Commission has recently received a favorable court decision for proposed 8-30(g) development on Hoyt Street in the proximity of Holmes School, limiting the number of units at that site.
Our Commission has unanimously supported recent land purchase proposals including: Hecker Avenue, 4 Short Lane, the property adjacent to Holmes School, and most recently, the 16-acres of the Ox Ridge Hunt Club. First Selectman Jayme Stevenson plans to talk more about this, but I personally believe the town’s offer to purchase this piece of property is a brilliant move.
Thanks to input and assistance from many of you in the audience, the updated Town Plan of Conservation & Development was completed in June 2016. This comprehensive plan will guide the Commission and our community related to conservation, development, and infrastructure issues over the next ten years.
The Commission has already begun implementation efforts by reviewing regulations in three areas: Signage; Building coverage and bulk; and our Business Zones. We will certainly need your assistance in turning the objectives laid out by our Town Plan into reality.
I’m always open to discussing questions or concerns your may have with issues related to the Commission. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
I would like to wrap-up my comments with a quote from the great Yogi Berra: He said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” Well, I want to assure you all that your Planning and Zoning team knows where Darien is headed, and it’s looks to be an even better place than its already is!
Thank you again for your time. I wish you all, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous 2017!
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Editor’s note: This article was published at 12:25 a.m., Tuesday. The time stamp has been changed for layout purposes on the home page.