Business & Tech

Zoning App Filed For Noroton Heights Commercial District

The proposed overhaul is set for a public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission on June 15.

Developer Thomas Golden and the owners of Palmer's Market have applied for an overhaul of the zoning regulations governing the Noroton Heights commercial district, resuming a process that could set the stage for a major redevelopment of the site.

The application, dated May 12, closely mirrors a version filed by Golden in 2009 but scrapped for undisclosed reasons. It envisions a new zone that would permit a combination of retail, office, and residential development.

"In order to promote a mixed use redevelopment, the proposed NHMU [Noroton Heights Mixed Use] Zone regulations are designed to maintain the historical retail center serving the Noroton Heights neighborhood while encouraging the development of apartments, including affordable units, and offices," the application reads.

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Arguing that the existing zoning situation has produced a "1950's era strip mall development heavily dependent on vehicular traffic," the application urges revising current regulations to encourage "safe pedestrian access to retail businesses by residents within the zone and from adjacent residential neighborhoods."

The changes would give the Planning and Zoning Commission the power to raise height limitations on individual buildings from two stories to three and to permit the construction of parking structures of up to one story above ground. Also included in the application is an enumeration of area, bulk, and setback requirements for the zone.

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Though Attorney Bruce Hill, who represents the Thomas E. Golden Realty Company, said there aren't many "significant changes" between this application and its 2009 predecessor, the filing marks something of a reboot for a series of discussions with the town stretching back to 2007.

The redevelopment the Noroton Heights district has long been an ambition of the Darien Planning and Zoning Commission. Various iterations of the goal have been included in the town's Plan of Conservation and Development since 1995.

The 2006 version of the plan highlights some of the specific changes sought by Golden and the Palmer family, including permitting three-floor commercial buildings and designing parking requirements with an eye toward one-stop shopping.

And as the owner of the many of the lots in the area—including the Stop and Shop—Golden is uniquely positioned to carry out an overhaul.

When Golden filed an earlier version of the zoning application in 2009, he presented renderings of a theoretical multistory development that included new retail and office space, 104 townhouse-style apartments, and 675 parking spaces.

The drawings also imagined concentrating retail spaces on lower floors and residential spaces on higher floors, effectively bridging the gap between commercial areas and existing homes uphill from the site.

Though the plans were only conjectural—the rezoning application makes no specific assertions regarding redevelopment—they showcased the type of construction Golden hoped the zoning changes might yield.

"Part of what the regulations are designed to do is to really get away from the ad hoc, one-off development of individual parcels," Hill explained.

Hill said that the proposed revisions are engineered to give business owners and developers the chance to take a more "comprehensive" look at what could be done with the site, "whether or not it's Tom Golden purchasing other properties, or whether it's owners of other small parcels getting to together and working cooperatively."

Hill added that Golden had been in contact with all of the property owners covered in the proposed rezoning, and that while there was no formal agreement between them with respect to redevelopment, "my impression, from everything I've heard, is that the property owners understand the benefit of this approach."

One key change has been the addition of the Palmer family to the rezoning application, potentially lending it more weight as it winds through the process.

"Having the Palmers really come on board as coapplicants caused us to really took a closer look at that westerly section of the district," Hill said. But, he added, "the Palmers are very anxious to convey to their existing tenants they don't have any intention to redevelop."

Golden will hold an information session on the proposed rezoning plan Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Town Hall. Invitations have been sent to abutting property owners, but the event is open to all members of the public.

The public hearing on the plan before the Planning and Zoning  Commission is set for Tuesday, June 15 at 8:00 p.m., also in the auditorium.


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