59°
To the editor:
We believe the Merritt Village project would fundamentally change the character of New Canaan forever.
As one of the condominium associations closest and most immediately impacted by the proposed Merritt Village directly across the street, we object to the granting of permits and the bypassing of zoning regulations for this project.
Below are the points we feel have not been adequately addressed by the builder or the zoning committee, and we would like to hear more from P&Z regarding how they plan to protect the interests and home values of the homeowners and neighboring taxpayers of New Canaan.
- Scale Of The Project Is Too Large And Would Negatively Affect Property Values: The Merritt Village project would undoubtedly negatively affect housing prices for our association by "dumping" an unnecessary and unreasonable number of Villages and condos into the New Canaan market. A study was done on impact of condos above $1 million. What about those that fall slightly below that threshold? Many of the existing neighboring condos fall in the home value range of $500,000 to $995,000, yet were not part of the study presented at the July P&Z meeting. Already there are a glut of homes for sale in New Canaan that have been sitting on the market for an unreasonable amount of time.
- Looming Nature of Proposed Four-Story Buildings: The four buildings proposed would be larger than the four-story building currently under construction on Millport. The two largest buildings in the Merritt Village Proposal would be 2.5 times the size of the four-story building on Millport. This dramatically alters the appearance of our downtown and sets a precedent for future development.
The next Planning & Zoning Commission meeting is Aug. 30. This is your chance to make the views of our community known to Planning and Zoning.
Anne Hutcheson, Bruce Lemoine, Ken Mathis, Nancy Rosen, Yousef Malekzadeh
Park View Condominium Association Board of Directors
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