At Tuesday’s P&Z commission meeting, several applications were left open including the town’s MI for Hamill Rink (the site plan application was closed last week), and residential developments at both 1 American Lane and 9 Glenville Street.
However, one application was approved unanimously.
The applicants, Carolyn and David Hahn, represented by S.E. Minor & Co, sought a final site plan and special permit to change the a residential use to retail on the ground floor plus storage in the remainder of the building at 257 Sound Beach Ave, a house on a flag lot behind commercial property at 263 Sound Beach Ave.
The ground floor retail use would be 868.41 sq ft.
The commission noted parking requirement would increase in a move from residential to retail and require 4.3 parking spaces.
The property is .1248 acre and is mostly in the LBR2 zone but a small portion is in the R-12 zone.
The house is legally non-conforming as residential. The residential property abuts the CVS and Old Greenwich School’s municipal parking lot in the rear and in front is accessed via an easement.
Last April, the applicant submitted a pre-application for The Big Picture on the ground floor, with art classes, private events, camps and and parties, but the site could not accommodate the required parking.
Rachel Orsi from S.E. Minor & Co said the client had been unsuccessful at marketing the property as residential.
She said the client had listed the property as both commercial and for a summer residential rental, but it had not attracted interest for the latter.
Rachel Orsi from S.E. Minor & Co said her understanding was second floor needed to abide by the town’s 6-110 the workforce housing regulation.
P&Z chair Margarita Alban said that was not the case. She noted the regulation was confusing, and that having one residential apartment upstairs would not have to be a 6-110 work force housing unit.
“It’s not well written, it’s our fault,” Alban said.
Alban said she had considered what would be allowed within the town’s regulations and realized that there was potentially a misunderstanding because the regulation was unclear and difficult to understand.
Further she said, “We can make different parking requirements if we think it fits,” she added. “You are proposing 4 spaces where 4.3 are required.”
She explained the applicant could technically continue the residential use in the zone because it exists as legally non conforming use. But, she said if the applicant wanted the property to be more conforming for the LBR2, they could have residential on the second floor and retail use on the first floor – and there fore not lose use of the full structure.
“The purpose of our regs is the highest and best use of the land,” Alban said.
Photo: Applicant materials. After ownership of the property at 257 Sound Beach Ave passed from Beth Campbell to her son, who in turn sold the house, it was sold from the Estate of Jane S Campbell on April 4, 2023 to David Hahn, who paid $1,150,000.
Previously one garage was removed. Today a second, two car garage remains on the property. Photo: Applicant’s file
“We can modify the parking (requirement), and the retail use you are proposing is fully consistent with the LBR2. The way the non-conformity statute works in Connecticut, if you wanted to continue 100% residential, you could do that because it is legally non-conforming, or you could do residential on the second floor.”
Alban said the client could come back in the future and seek to return to residential use on the second floor.
Alban noted that while the applicant had difficulty marketing the property as residential, in future they could work with P&Z staff (not the commission) for permission to create an apartment on the second floor, and that it might potentially appeal to an Old Greenwich School teacher.
But, if they change their mind in the future about the first floor, the legal non-conformity would have been lost and they would be required to return to the commission. They could go back to 100% residential, but they’d have to rezone the entire lot to R12. The property abuts residential in a “tiny section.
Ms Orsi said her client might be open to second floor residential use via an administrative approval down the road, but asked if it was required to have both a covered and outdoor parking spot for that residential unit.
Alban said that was not the case. The requirement for one apartment would be for a single outdoor parking spot.
Alban pointed out that if the applicant eliminated the remaining two-car garage it would be possible to increase the parking behind the building to 5 spaces.
A condition of the approval was that if the applicant used the rest of the building for storage, it would have to be exclusively for inventory for the retail use in the building.
“You’re not Westy’s,”Alban said.
The commission closed the application. Several hours later, at the end of the meeting they voted unanimously to approve the change of use.