NORWALK – The Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-2 Wednesday to approve plans for 1 Cemetery St., which call for building 77 apartment units, of which seven would be workforce units; 102 parking spaces and additional on and off-site improvements. The approval came despite dozens and dozens of residents speaking out against the project, even more writing letters to the commission, and more than 700 residents signing a petition asking the developer to scale the project back.
The approval came at the third meeting for this project—the first was a more than three-hour presentation by the applicant with a small bit of public comment; the second featured exclusively public comment for about five hours; and the third was a rebuttal presentation by the applicant, which included question and comments from Planning and Zoning Commissioners.
Planning and Zoning Chair Lou Schulman listed the special permit criteria under the East Norwalk Village TOD Zone, which he said the project met.
“These regulations were intended to allow and encourage the possibility of development since it [didn’t] seem to be happening under what were the existing zoning regs,” Schulman said.
The plans reflect a City proposal to turn Cemetery Street into a one-lane road, but that decision hasn’t been finalized by ConnDOT and the City’s Transportation, Mobility, and Parking department. The applicant has said the project can work with two lanes, but by taking away a lane it adds things like on-street parking and a bike lane.
Comments from Zoning Commissioners
Many Commissioners said they supported the project and hoped it would “reinvigorate East Norwalk.” Commissioner Mike Mushak recalled how East Norwalk used to have factories that employed 3,000 people and when shifts got off the restaurants and streets would be bustling.
“It was busy,” he said. “What you see now is a hollowed-out version of what East Norwalk used to be and that’s what this project helps restore.”
Mushak said that he’s been in the audience before as a Norwalk resident when he’s agreed with, and been upset with decisions made.
“There’s a lot of fear, a lot of anger,” he said. “I’ve been disappointed, I’ve been elated. I have stood out there and sat out there…we’ve listened carefully to everything everybody had to say.”
However, he said that advice he received years ago was to vote based on “facts and not fear,” and so he said he supported the project.
Other Commissioners were more hesitant, expressing favorability for parts of the planliked but also concerns.
“I am concerned that the number of spaces may not be sufficient for guests for retail if there really, truly is meaningful retail,” said Commissioner Ana Tabachneck, who said she lived a few blocks from the project. “There’s a number of things about this project that I really like, but I do still have some concerns with how it will impact the neighborhood and fit in with the neighborhood.”
Tabachneck voted no.
Commissioner Tammy Langalis said she have a lot of mixed emotions about this project.
“I think the applicant has done an excellent job of trying to answer many concerns,” she said. “I think the quality of their projects have been good; they’re interesting, they don’t try to make one massive monolith structure. But then I hear the pain of the people in East Norwalk. They want to get to and from their homes like everybody else.”
Langlis said the city needs to do more “traffic engineering” in East Norwalk to address traffic issues, particularly on the way to I-95.
“They’re upset, they feel like their neighborhood is getting dumped on,” said Langalis, who voted that she was “opposed without prejudice.”
Upset About Zoning
Attorney Adam Blank, a former Zoning Commissioner representing the developer, said that many of the opposition comments from the public weren’t actually against the project itself, but against the approved zoning that allows it.
“Really the vast majority of the opposition—I mean, you could say that it was about this project—but it wasn’t about this project. It is about the zoning,” Blank said. “They’re unhappy with the zoning, they’re unhappy with the East Norwalk Village TOD regulations. And that’s what the primary gripe is—folks that didn’t like the zone change came out to oppose the project.”
The city approved the East Norwalk Transit Oriented Village District in 2021, which permits structures to be 2.5 stories high, with 3.5 stories allowed by special permit if a developer achieves certain bonus points, such as providing amenities like public space. Many residents at the time expressed concerns about the study allowing for more development.
Schulman said that he also believed this is what residents were upset about.
“We changed the zoning code to make something like this possible and I tend to agree with Attorney Blank that has a lot to do with what the neighbors are complaining about,” he said. “They’re not happy with that change.”
Still, Blank argued that this project followed the city’s adopted regulations so it should be approved.
“But what’s in front of you isn’t a request for a zone change. It’s not a request for a variance,” Blank said. “We’re asking you to fairly apply the existing village TOD regs to this application, and the application fully complies with the existing regulations,” he said.
He also said that they specifically heard a lot of comments about scaling back this project, but he noted that it was “already scaled back,” as under the zoning, they could have up to 87 units, but they are only proposing 77.
‘One of the Nicest Buildings’
Blank, who lives in Norwalk and represents many developers in front of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said that he’s seen a lot of developments come before the board.
“I think it’s hard to argue that this isn’t the most attractive multifamily development that has come in front of the Zoning Commission in the last 15 years,” he said. “It’s a great project architecturally, it really is. And when you couple that with all of the infrastructure improvements, all of the improvements that are going to be made on Cemetery Street and at the site to make it more make it a more neighborhood feel, make it safer, pedestrian-friendly, bicycle-friendly. I do think that it’s a great project.”
Colin Grotheer, an associate with Beinfield Architecture and the architect for the project, compared the size of the project, particularly its height to others in the surrounding area, and then placed them on the site to show how it would fit compared to the current proposal in an effort to show that the project would fit in with the neighborhood.
“I went through and I did a quick survey, we’ve got the 11 Roger St. building, this is a three story building, very prominent. It’s about a 1600 square foot footprint. If we were to place that on our site, that’s what it would look like. So a pretty large building, occupying most of the site,” he said, showing how it would fit.
He said that his review of buildings around East Norwalk and other areas showed that: “you’ll often see on street parking buildings close to the street, sidewalks and street trees, varied facades, typical massing throughout New England, two and a half to three and a half stories is typical, sometimes higher.”
Traffic Responses
Many of the public comments at the last two hearings centered around traffic and many of the Commissioners had questions as well.
Greg Del Rio, traffic engineer of the project, said that they heard residents’ concerns about the traffic, particularly that the traffic counts were not done during the summer. They worked with ConnDOT and the City to access data counts during the summer, both from the Walk Bridge counts in 2016 and from cell photo data that tracks trips in 2019 to analyze how the traffic from the project could impact in those months. Del Rio, along with the City’s traffic consultant Marissa Tarallo, said that there was “no significant impact” caused by the trips generated by the site.
Blank and Del Rio said that ConnDOT also gave preliminary approvals to either of the alternatives for Cemetery Street, both of which would make it one lane. Final approval couldn’t happen until the local Planning and Zoning Commission approved the project, Blank said.
Mushak raised a concern about delivery trucks and asked to make some of the on-street parking spots into delivery zones. This was part of the conditions of approval, that the applicant look into turning some of those spots into delivery zones.
The decision on what to do with Cemetery Street hasn’t been made yet, as it is conditioned based on local approval. That decision would be worked out in the coming months. The resolution also includes an ask for the City to explore a “resident parking pass system” for East Norwalk.
Environmental Concerns
Matt Popp, the developer’s environmental consultant, said that the project would not impact the wildlife that lives at Mill Pond, and actually would improve it, due to improvements to the water quality on the site.
At the last meeting, Diane Cece of East Norwalk Neighborhood Association, said that ENNA is “being entered as an intervenor in any follow-up proceedings after this,” under the Clean Air Act to “address some of these environmental issues.
The Commission received a notice that an “intervenor petition” consistent with state statute had come in from the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association. The commission voted 7-1 to approve a resolution which stated that based on reviews of the site and testimony that “the Planning and Zoning Commission…does not believe that the application as submitted will have the effect of unreasonably polluting, impairing, or destroying the public trust in the air, water, or other natural resources of the state.”
Blank used a slide and said that they were following the regulations, including DEEP and EPA’s.
The applicant also noted that in response to concerns about being in a flood zone, that the first floor of the building is higher than required by FEMA for the type of zone they are in.
Final Comments
At the end of the meeting, Schulman thanked everyone for their participation in the process.
Mushak said that he was upset by some “uncivil behavior” at the last public hearing when the few speakers who were in favor of the project were “laughed at” and he wondered if others in the audience didn’t speak up because of this. He said that he was waiting for an apology from the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association for this behavior.
Cece spoke up on behalf of ENNA, even though no public comment was technically allowed, but asked the commission to put her comments into the record because “Mr. Mushak indicts our organization and our community every time he speaks.”
Cece said that ENNA doesn’t control people who come to public hearings.
“We don’t censor them,” she said.
She added that the organization provides assistance to members of the public who want to participate.
Langalis added for future conversations that the city “really should listen” to many of the concerns of its residents.
“Many of our residents feel that projects being approved are too large,” she said. “We’re not Stamford, we’re Norwalk. We have to try to do what they want while growing and improving the city at a reasonable pace.”
Kelly Prinz, formerly Kelly Kultys, is the founder of Coastal Connecticut Times.
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