New Canaan’s 10-year plan
Residents say affordable housing is a top concern
While most people spend January trying to uphold their resolutions for one year, New Canaan is getting ready to lay out its goals for the next decade. New Canaan is rewriting its Plan of Conservation and Development, a guiding document that plays an important role in town decisions over 10 years.
Mandated by the state, the POCD plays a role in most decisions in town, including affordable housing, historic preservation and quality of life.
The town hired SLR Consulting to assist with the process, including conducting a community survey and hosting several community workshops to understand what New Canaan residents hope to see over the next decade.
Overall, New Canaan residents agreed that New Canaan’s quality of living was high, giving the town an average rating of 8.5 out of 10 in the community survey.
According to the survey results, New Canaan residents said their biggest priorities going into the next decade centered on affordable housing, the environment and infrastructure.
Using the survey results and an overview of current conditions in New Canaan, both available online, here is what New Canaan residents could see reflected in their town plan.
Affordable housing and development
About 19 percent of those surveyed said affordable housing was their biggest concern for New Canaan.
The survey results reviewing New Canaan’s housing diversity were mixed around affordable housing, with about 36 percent saying there was just enough, nearly 33 percent saying there was too little and nearly 14 percent saying there was too much.
According to SLR’s community overview, about 21 percent of New Canaan’s housing stock falls under the state’s definition of affordable, but only 3.7 percent were considered deed-restricted affordable housing. Between 2010 and 2020, SLR found no net growth in housing units in town, while the state had a 2.8 percent growth rate and Fairfield County a 4.8 percent growth rate.
The town hired SLR Consulting to assist with the process, including conducting a community survey and hosting several community workshops to understand what New Canaan residents hope to see over the next decade.
“Some of that discrepancy between the 20 percent and the 3 percent could be the naturally occurring affordable housing, but there are also households that are cost burdened, so they're currently paying more than they can afford,” said SLR planner Julia Fiore.
In its assessment of the survey results, SLR wrote that residents wanted a balance between affordable housing and the town's existing character.
“Participants want affordable housing strategically located and are mindful of the existing state mandates related to affordable housing,” the survey read. “Many participants emphasize that affordable housing should not come at the expense of open space, natural resources, and historic preservation.”
The state denied New Canaan's moratorium extension on affordable housing in May, a protection against controversial 8-30g housing projects.
Survey results were also mixed on housing stock for small single family homes, with a little over half reporting there were enough and nearly 40 percent claiming there were too few.
As the town's guiding document for the next 10 years, zoning recommendations will likely play a large role in the town's POCD when it comes to density of development or zones for apartments or housing, according to SLR principal planner Robert Collins
“Zoning recommendations are very common and should be part of the POCD update, knowing that it's for the next 10 years and that what your priorities might be (could be) wrapped into everything from a substantial zoning code update to fine-tuning or specific districts or overlays that you may want,” Collins said during a Jan. 8 POCD subcommittee meeting.
Promoting sustainability and weather resistance
More than 18 percent of residents surveyed said environmental concerns were their biggest priority, particularly preserving open spaces from development and preparing for more extreme weather events.
“The majority of respondents think that the town should implement more sustainability efforts or needed to do a better job of communicating what sustainability efforts the town (is) already implementing,” said town planner Sarah Carey when presenting the survey results to the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 19.
Storm resilience was a particular concern for residents. Slightly more than half of respondents disagreed that the town did enough to protect against internet or cell service loss during storms. About 47 percent also disagreed that the town did enough for power loss in storms, outnumbering the 36 percent who marked “agree.”
About 90 percent of all respondents reported losing power and cell service or internet over the past 10 years.
Collins said addressing issues like power loss is difficult to accomplish in a POCD. Power and internet services fall under outside companies — not the town government — that may not be willing to work with the town on expensive services like putting a utility's lines underground, he said.
“It doesn't mean that we can't put in a possible strategy or action step to consider it,” Collins said. “But I just want to caution you that we have to be careful about focusing on things that we know that we as a town can control a little bit more than some of the things that we can't.”
Increasing infrastructure
Just over 15 percent said their most important concern was infrastructure, including making sure existing structures like roads and bridges can handle more development, weatherproofing utilities and improving cell phone service in town.
Of all the town's quality of life concerns, nearly three in five residents agreed cell service was an issue, followed by traffic congestion, speeding and road maintenance.
According to SLR, the primary spots for traffic congestion were in the downtown area and by the entrances and exits to the Merritt Parkway.
When it came to transportation, the majority of New Canaan residents — about 56 percent — agreed the town needed more sidewalks and just over half wanted more bicycle access. As part of the 2014 POCD, the town conducted a sidewalk concept plan, which SLR consultants said they could further investigate to expand for 2024. SLR consultants also offered to look further into public transportation ridership.
What happens next?
According to Collins, New Canaan residents will likely have their next opportunity to weigh in on the POCD in February, when SLR is expected to present its first community vision draft to the public with the document's goals and main chapters.
During February, SLR and the POCD subcommittee are expected to finalize the themes of the POCD and begin working on recommendations and actions into March.
Subcommittee chair John Kriz said the draft version of the POCD should be sent to the town's Planning and Zoning Commission by summer. Once the commission makes any changes, it would ideally be sent to the Town Council in the fall for approval by the end of the year.