NORWALK, Conn. A long-promised Wall Street development was given yet another extension this week by Norwalk's Zoning Commission, although the vote was far from unanimous.
POKO Partners requested a one-year extension on its agreement with Norwalk to develop Wall Street Place, a housing and commercial complex in the Isaac Street area of Wall Street. The commission compromised and granted a six-month extension.
Joe Santo, chairman of the commission, voted no. "I think this has gone too far," he said.
POKO President Ken Olsen bought the 2.9-acre site more than five years ago. The company was granted two six-month extensions in 2011. Olsen and local officials met at the site in September to celebrate the company's application for a demolition permit for the first phase of Wall Street Place, posing for a photo with golden shovels.
"The application process is, at a minimum, 120 days," Olsen said of the time frame for action. Financing for the project was "mostly there," he said.
Commissioner James White also voted no Wednesday on the extension. "Their original funding grants were denied, they're going for another one," he said to Santo. "It should be in within 60 days. If they don't ... we'll see this again in six months."
Santo recommended that if the matter appears before the board again, any request for an extension should be denied.
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