New Canaan Takes Up Parking/Senior Housing Concept

NEW CANAAN, Conn.  – A proposal to build senior housing and decked parking at the Lumberyard lot downtown has been blasted by several members of the New Canaan Town Council.

First Selectman Jeb Walker, Town Planner Steven Kleppin and Judy Bentley, a member of a senior housing and health care committee, asked the council for permission to apply for a state Transit-Oriented Development grant to study building homes and a parking garage on the lot off Elm Street.

The grant would allow the town only to study the feasibility of the project, which, in theory, would create more parking downtown and provide housing for seniors closer to the center of New Canaan, Kleppin said.

“We hope if we develop it that it would be structured so that it wouldn’t be a burden on the town,” Kleppin said. “The town could receive revenue for parking, but it would get that and tax revenues from homes.”

The Town Council has to review the grant application.

Stamford Hospital recently purchased a pair of Grove Street properties near the Lumberyard lots and may open a satellite medical center there. Kleppin said he had hoped to get the go-ahead to apply for the grant because the state’s deadline is Aug. 4. But the Town Council opted to have a special meeting Wednesday, July 27, at 8:30 p.m. to discuss it further.

Several council members vehemently opposed the idea, saying the concept is too big for the downtown area and would cause traffic congestion along Elm Street.

“I understand that it’s a good bit of money and that it’s a feasibility study, but I think [the Lumberyard lot] is the absolutely wrong place,” said Councilwoman Christine Hussey.

Councilman Paul Foley said he would vote against it because he feared it would “open a Pandora’s Box” in terms of development. He also said the town should not be in the business of creating senior housing. “I’m not against seniors. I’m just against us building senior housing,” he said.

What do you think of building senior housing and decked parking at the Lumberyard lot? Leave a comment below or on our Facebookpage.

 

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