Consultant says Zone D needs wider focus

Written by Andrew Kersey, Assistant Editor
Thursday, 29 October 2009 10:26

It’s not loom that is threatening the downtown, but a potential “sea of parking.”

A design consultant suggested as much to the Planning & Zoning Commission Tuesday in a presentation that projected what a proposed commercial zone west of Grove Street might look like if developers were to build out lots according to their highest and best use.

As the overall “potential for redevelopment is moderate to high” in the proposed zone, said Glenn Chalder of Planimetrics, “the commission needs to ask itself, ‘What do you want this area to look like?’”

He showed alternate visions for possible development of the zone’s 6.63 acres, which included combined lots. The illustrations were based on the competing restrictions of parking requirements and floor area ratio (FAR), or the ratio of the total floor area of a building to its lot size.

On average, Chalder said, the proposed regulations would result in a decrease in building mass from what currently exists or is allowed on individual lots.

However, he emphasized that the proposed regulations rely too much on parking requirements at the possible expense of site plan aesthetics.

“When parking is the limitation,” he told the Advertiser yesterday, “it’s in the best interest of the developer to get as many spaces as you can on the lot. And that’s exactly what New Canaan doesn’t want.”

Up until now, opponents of the rezoning plan have focused on the potential scale of buildings, while parking requirements have been seen as a way of keeping development in check.

But, Chalder showed a worst-case scenario in which all lots north of the railroad tracks were consolidated and development consisted of a vast parking grid surrounded by buildings along the perimeter, abutting neighboring homes.

“People are tinkering with FAR,” he told the paper, “but it will have no impact if they don’t deal with the parking ratio.”

Chalder suggested reducing or sharing parking spaces required of certain lots because visitors will likely use one establishment’s parking while patronizing multiple shops or businesses.

For this reason, he advocated reinstating a “fee-in-lieu-of-parking” system that would permit business owners to forgo the minimum number of parking spaces by paying into a fund set up for a parking structure.

The idea was recently dropped from the commission’s plan, as opponents to the rezoning proposal said it would simply allow developers to increase building size on their lots.

Commission Chairman Laszlo Papp explained to Chalder that one of the reasons the fee-in-lieu system was eventually ruled out is because it is unlikely to cover the cost of such a parking structure.

However, he and Town Planner Steve Kleppin said the notion of shared parking was worthwhile and may be looked into by the commission.

In a statement released to the Advertiser before the commission’s meeting, the Committee for Downtown New Canaan, a group opposed to the rezoning plan, requested “that the town provide the P&Z with the necessary tools to rethink their proposal by funding the necessary studies.”

In addition to a market demand study, for which the town recently received a state grant, the group reiterated its call for a traffic study and an environmental impact study on the area.

In a public debate last week, First Selectman Jeb Walker pre-empted half of this request by stating the need for a “professionally done traffic study before we move forward with any change” in commercial zoning.

Chalder said it was also important for the commission to update its 25-year-old downtown plan. Though the Plan of Conservation and Development was redrafted in 2003, the downtown section was left untouched.

“The parking ratios are from the 1950s,” he said yesterday.

The next plan is due in 2013, according to Kleppin.

Chalder’s final piece of advice for the commission was to be more flexible on building height limitations and to consider implementing a “form-based code” to help reinforce the integrity of the downtown streetscape.

“I urge you to think about what kind of quality you want,” he said. “You need to have a sense of vision as to what you’re trying to create.”

Form-based coding, he said, would set up criteria “much closer to the form and shape of buildings and the materials used,” rather than just stipulating the types of businesses permitted.

And rather than stick to a static height requirement for all buildings, he said height should be looked at in its relation to street width.

“We shouldn’t just hang on to numbers because we’ve always done it that way,” he said. “If you had more flexible rules, you’d get more flexible results and New Canaan would be happier in the long run.”

Kleppin said the presentation “reinforced what we’ve been talking about on the commission,” adding, “We take this in conjucntion with the design manual and will explore further the idea of form-based coding.”