At Tuesday’s Greenwich Planning & Zoning commission meeting was a chance for initial feedback to Greenwich’s Academy’s pre-application to develop the former Rockefeller property at 0 Glenville Road.
The property is 54 acres of heavily forested land the school purchased from Indian Spring Land Limited Partnership in 2023 for $18,212,375.
In a multi-phase development, Phase I builds 8 units of staff housing, a lower school classroom building, a squash center, and an outdoor play area.
Interim head of school Reed Minor said 76% of lower school families who would be served by the Glenville campus reside in Greenwich.
She said the campus would alleviate constraints on the North Maple campus and help balance the all girls private school and its counterpart for boys, Brunswick and their upper school.
“Right now, there is a size gap between GA’s approx 85 students per grade and Brunswick’s 110. This creates a more balanced co-ed environment and shared classes on the North Maple campus.”
She talked about a master plan grounded in environmental stewardship.
Attorney Tom Heagney said after meeting with neighbors, an initial proposal for bus and staff egress via Pecksland Rd was changed.
Instead the Pecksland egress would be exclusively for emergency vehicles, and only if the fire marshal recommends it.
The single egress for the new campus is now proposed to be via Riversville Road.
Phase I constructs an entrance off Riversville Rd and a central loop and a driveway, classrooms for 120 students in grades 1 and 2, a squash facility, 8 units of faculty housing, a play area and additional parking.
With phase I of the project, 85% of the site would remain untouched.
After phases II and III, the untouched portion of the site would rise to 75%.
Phase II would add buildings for grades K, 3 and 4, ancillary program space, and a parking lot on the south side of the site.
Phase III would add an outdoor classroom, a sports center (playing field over a parking garage), and additional athletic facility north of the squash center.
Applicant pre-application file submitted to Greenwich P&Z.
Mr. Heagney said school hours would be timed so as not to coincide with Glenville School.
He said GA is looking to start with 120 students in grades 1 and 2.
Then, by adding K, 3 and 4 in Phase II, total enrollment at the Glenville campus would rise to 300.
He said John Canning from Kimley Horne had been hired to do a traffic study.
Commissioner Dennis Yeskey asked about conflicts with priorities of the POCD, given the top two guiding principles are: Preserve our community character and sense of place and Develop housing opportunities for the future. Guiding principle #3 is to “Provide Top Quality Educational Facilities.”
Heagney said staff staff housing would be created, and that schools are a permitted use in residential zones.
Yeskey said other major projects had been declined by P&Z, including Greenwich Hospital’s Smilow Cancer Center given POCD prioritizes residential over commercial, and the school is proposed in residential zones.
Heagney said many schools in town are in residential neighborhoods.
Yeskey said existing schools have been in place for a long time, predating the POCD.
“I think this is going to be a major discussion on priorities in town,” Yeskey said. “This is a new school, on new grounds, as opposed to rebuilding a school in a residential zone.”
P&Z Commission chair Margarita Alban clarified that a site plan and special permit do not have to be consistent with the POCD, but the applicant’s proposed zoning change does.
There are several pockets of wetlands on the property. Three contain vernal pools.
Commissioner Mary Jenkins said while environmental disturbance would avoid extensive wetlands and vernal pools, impacting only 75% of the property, she was concerned about significant site disturbance on the remaining 25%.
“I’d love to know what the tree loss count is. I’d love to know the estimated extent of the impervious,” Jenkins said. “Not counting faculty housing, you have 87 outdoor parking spaces.”
Jenkins was also concerned about traffic, given the squash building is proposed to have 9 courts, plus bleachers and exhibit space.
“Traffic, traffic, traffic,” said commissioner Ann Noel Jones. “I live in Glenville.”
She asked if high school students would be driving themselves to the campus for activities.
She added that at one point the property was on a short list of properties the town considered buying for open space and there would sensitivity to that.
Commissioner Peter Lowe was concerned that “flex parking” for events might impact upland review areas.
“This is all heavily forested area. It would be good to know what are the number of trees to be removed. What percentage of this forest is going to be depleted?” Lowe asked.
Commissioner Arn Wells asked for an enrollment chart showing enrollment during different phases, and whether enrollment caps would need to be adjusted.
Commissioner Brooks Harris commented that while only 25% of the site will be disturbed, “Where the buildings are being done, the land use is incredibly intensive. It’s very concentrated and right up on the border of Upland Review Areas.”
He asked if there would be a commitment for a conservation easement or agreement to keep the remaining areas pristine after phase III.
Ms Alban said concerns fell into three buckets: traffic and parking, impact on wetlands and environmental impact overall.
She noted that with presence of wetlands, there is likely a high water table, and the commission would be concerned about drainage.
She said said the traffic report should detail trip generation by use: athletic trip generation for the squash facility, anticipated trips for initial classrooms based on an enrollment of 300, and how queuing would be handled.
“Are you going to overflow? We’ve got busy roadway there,” Alban said. “These are very congested roads.”
In addition to extensive written public comment, many neighbors testified via Zoom.
Janet Lockton, a longtime neighbor of the subject property, written comments referred to a “multi-phase bait-and-switch.”
“The applicant is attempting to minimize the scale of this project, yet their actual plans call for a massive influx of 300 students, the construction of 18 faculty houses, and a massive sports complex featuring a 10-court squash facility designed with over 10 toilets to host regional tournaments of over 500 people,” Lockton wrote.
“By approving Phase I now, you establish a campus use precedent,” Lockton continued. “The applicant cannot be allowed to hide a high-intensity, 500-person plus regional sports hub behind the cover of an elementary school.”
Via Zoom, Ms Lockton asked about parking during squash tournaments.
“There are five courts now at North Maple. Why do they need 15 courts? That’s more than any school in the whole universe.”
Lockton said it will be necessary to bus students back to the main campus for field sports.
“The whole thing is a humongo campus. All of mid-country Greenwich is going to be the new Academy campus – one big driveway,” Lockton said.
She also requested the town conduct an archeological analysis, noting she had collected numerous prehistoric arrowheads from the area.
Ms Alban said the Conservation Dept would be asked to do an archeological analysis.
Francia Alvarez, from the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, asked about protections for the “pristine forest.”
“The Conceptual Site Plan doesn’t show how much of the existing forest will be removed in Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III. Nor are existing trails depicted on the site plan.”
“Where are they located?” asked Alvarez whose lengthy written comments appear on page 61 in the public record. “Our Greenwich TreeKeeper Canopy program shows a 54.6 acre property with a 97.61% Urban Canopy Percentage.”
Noting a history of flooding in homes along the Byram River, Alvarez asked if tree removals would impact downstream residents.
“Will flooding increase for our Pemberwick neighbors?” she asked.
In a written comment, Ari Lefkovits wrote, “The property drains toward the Byram River. Clearing woodland and adding roads, buildings, and parking areas could increase stormwater runoff, flooding, and erosion, affecting downstream properties and the surrounding area.”
Betsy Underhill from 52 Riversville Rd said she had attended GA as a student, but the proposed driveway to the new campus is almost directly across from her house.
She said when Glenville School has events, cars already park along Riversville where there is neither parking nor a shoulder. She said since the advent of GPS and the addition of the new Brunswick campus, drivers use Riversville as a cut through to Sherwood and King Street.
“Riversville is like a thoroughfare now,” Underhill said.
Lisa Skinner, a neighbor on Pecksland, described GA as a respectful, thoughtful and responsible neighbor.
“We all have to remember our town is growing. It’s developing. We would love to keep it green and serene. That’s just not reality.”
Leslie and Marcus Tarkington wrote to say the proposed plan would impact traffic, parking, and enrollment at both the North Maple and Ridgeview Avenue campuses.
They said the proposed Glenville campus should be evaluated together with its corresponding strategic plan for the North Maple and Ridgeview Avenue campuses, including a bussing plan and breakdown of the student enrollment showing Greenwich residents versus students from out of town.
Andrea and Jonathan Hjelte wrote that they live by the dangerous curve on Pecksland proposed as a location for emergency egress.
“Any paved access, whether initially slated for ’emergency use only’ or not, has the
potential to turn into a very dangerous traffic point,” the Hjeltes wrote.
“We have watched numerous accidents happen on that turn in our 8 years here. Most recently 2 Brunswick students flipped their SUV (worth noting, they flipped their large pick up truck without making contact with any other vehicles),” they wrote.
Similarly Leslee Rogath of Pecksland said the rollover crash had been frightening.
“What assurances do residents have that it will remain restricted to emergency use? Any additional access along this road presents a significant risk,” she wrote.
Carol Rinello wrote, “This will create enormous gridlock in the Glenville area. We are already backlogged with incoming traffic from the 684 corridor and from the Merritt Parkway.”
School traffic through the area already includes Sacred Heart, Blind Brook School across the state line on King Street, Glenville School, Greenwich Academy and Brunswick.
Mr. Heagney said the property is not currently connected to town sewers but would work with the town Sewer Dept, given the property is in the “sewer benefit area,” a designated town area where properties have access to the municipal sewer system.
Next Steps
The applicant will share their proposal with the town’s Wetlands Agency before returning with a submitted applications.
There was talk about scheduling a site visit, ideally before there is snow on the ground. The commission requested proposed building footprints mapped out with flags.
Ms Alban summarized areas for followup including: traffic study to include Pecksland, drainage proposal given the high water table, hours of operation, lighting, use of trails by public given potential liability, energy efficiency and sustainability.
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