Developer: New Canaan seeks climate study to derail project
NEW CANAAN — Developer Arnold Karp submitted a response last week to the town regarding proposals by the Water Pollution Control Authority to delay three affordable housing developments to conduct for global warming studies.
Karp has three pending applications, which would include 30 percent affordable housing under Connecticut’s 8-30g statute.
In a letter to the town, Karp’s attorney Christopher Smith argued the WPCA is trying to prevent more affordable housing from being developed in New Canaan and the delay has nothing to do with global warming.
The developer submitted the rebuttal prior to a closed session meeting Tuesday when the WPCA discussed proposals that had been presented by Chairman Todd Lavieri on Jan. 17 to address Karp’s three applications for large multi-family developments.
Lavieri could not be reached this week for comment about Karp’s response.
This is not the first time Karp has been at odds with town officials over his affordable housing developments.
The projects on Weed and Main streets were rejected after a group of peer reviewers examined the plans. Former Westport Fire Chief Andrew Kingsbury said both projects presented risks to the public in event of a fire and engineer John Thomson raised traffic concerns about the proposed projects.
Members of the public were particularly concerned about the Weed Street development and lawn signs popped up around town against the project and 4,060 people signed an online petition opposing the plans.
The Town Council ordinance committee in January expedited a recommendation for the town to create an affordable housing committee.
At the meeting, Lavieri had said he wants the WPCA to slow down the process, “given the scale, the speed, the size, and the timing, the concurrent timing of three applications. It’s proposed that they’re viewed and assessed really in total and holistically analyzing all of them together rather than incrementally one at a time.”
The WPCA proposal, which is expected to be voted on in the coming weeks, would ask the Planning and Zoning Commission, Department of Public Works and the town engineer to update a strategic plan. Lavieri argued in favor of updating the Plan of Conservation and Development, which is nearly 10 years old and is scheduled to be revised in 2024.
Lavieri wants an “assessment as to where we are and where we’re heading before we move or approve any more significant increases in demand and service,” especially “in light of climate change and potential challenges that climate change” may pose in the town.
The POCD provides guidance about potential land uses and local government decisions and “did not envision a large wave of simultaneous application of the scale, nor did it address the potential impacts of climate change,” Lavieri said.
On behalf of the developer, Smith argued in the letter that the POCD does not govern the WPCA’s authority and responsibility to prepare a sewer plan for the town’s sewer system.
“The sole issue is whether there is sufficient capacity in the town’s sewer system to serve the proposed residential community. If there is sufficient capacity today, then the WPCA must, as a matter of law, approve the applicant’s application,” Smith wrote in the letter.
Lavieri proposed to wait for updated studies from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration that would predict and map water levels, based on more up-to-date information. He said the infrastructure bill that was passed in 2022 acknowledges the data the government releases from NOAA is not accurate as it relates to rainfall projections used by states and local municipalities that is based on decades-old information.
“The new bill mandates that this data be updated to include climate change forecast, given the flooding that so many towns and cities have seen across the country in the last five years,” Lavieri said.
The three applications include a 102unit development on 761 Weed St., a 20unit expansion of an antique Queen Anne resident at 51 Main St., and 93 units on 72 Hill St. WPCA officials have said these developments are a concern because they are in addition to Canaan Parish on Route 123 that nearly doubled from 60 units to 100.
According to the WPCA proposal, Karp’s developments would add “over 200 new units that could house more than 500 new residents,” saying the problem is the size of the complexes and not affordable housing.