Greenwich Communities Ferris Landing Meeting to Be Rescheduled (again) after Zoom Option Fail Following Power Outage

Update Monday, March 11: About 30 people arrived at town hall for the 6pm Greenwich Communities meeting.

But since there had been a power outage in the building earlier the Zoom option was unavailable, the hosts asked the audience to vote about whether or not to proceed.

The large majority of attendees voted to reschedule in order to give more people a chance to watch via Zoom. The meeting ended. Watch this space for news of a rescheduled meeting.

First Update: The rescheduled forum will take place on March 11 at 6:00pm. in the Town Hall Meeting Room. It will also be live streamed over Zoom.

The original forum on the proposed Strickland Road affordable housing development was scheduled for Feb 13 but was postponed due to inclement weather.

Greenwich Communities will present their ideas for a 48-unit development on Strickland Road.

They will need a lease from the town as the proposed site is an underused town parking lot by the Cos Cob train station.

Greenwich Communities has already made some changes to their original proposal in response to feedback from the Planning & Zoning commission that the four buildings were “inward facing” in a neighborhood of houses with front porches. Now the renderings feature some Juliet balconies and porches, though those are not the units’ main entrances.

There have been some concerns about building in a neighborhood that experiences repeated flooding.

Also, Greenwich Communities propose to remove a significant amount of trees for buildings 2 and 3 and additional parking north of building 3. The P&Z commissioners noted those trees serve as a buffer between the site and I-95.

Other concerns have been about lack of sidewalks on Strickland Rd and speeding cars.

Also Greenwich Communities has been reluctant include a retail component in the development, because while the location is convenient to the train station, residents will need cars for grocery shopping or even to get a cup of coffee.

Pluses of the development will be that every unit will be designated affordable and count toward the town’s required 10% under state law. For many years the town has hovered about 5% affordable.

The event is an opportunity for residents to give feedback in person, but there is also a Zoom link.