Norwalk residents seek dead end for Cemetery Street development

The Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) held a public hearing on March 2 to further discuss the state of the ongoing joint development between Spinnaker Real Estate Partners LLC and M.F. DiScala & Co. at Cemetery Street. Dozens of Norwalk residents were in attendance with more viewing the proceedings by Zoom.

The proposed development would see the former Wells Fargo location at 1 Cemetery St. replaced with a mixed-use development featuring 77 apartments and 2,900 square feet each for retail and office spaces. Seven of the units would be Workforce Housing affordable units.

The project is referred to as the Mill Pond by its developers to emphasize its adjacency to the historic Mill Pond, once used to power industry with tidal flows. Previously, site owners DiScala & Co. failed in a bid to rename the street “Mill Pond Place.”

The plan calls for two buildings, one freestanding structure which will contain the office space and three housing units, and a larger building composed of facade sections in various architectural styles common to New England. The PZC was largely approving of the development when it was discussed in February, but the East Norwalk Neighborhood Association (ENNA) a nonprofit that seeks to “preserve the residential character” of the neighborhood, organized an unusually high turnout for the public hearing. They rallied support online across various social media platforms and through the use of yard signs that have appeared throughout the surrounding area demanding that the developers “Scale it back,” with a red X over an early rendering of the development.

The meeting began with a presentation from the developers highlighting changes they had made to the plans and answering questions from the committee members. Initially, they were also meant to be given the opportunity to reply to letters submitted by the public ahead of the meeting. However, the audience repeatedly heckled the presenters and decried the information presented as lies.

“Do you think that arguing like this helps your case?” PZC Chairman Louis Schulman asked the public attendees at the hearing after a particularly loud outburst at the mention of reducing the number of lanes on Cemetery Street. “It does not. It is better to save your remarks for when you have an opportunity to speak.”

Ultimately, the PZC decided to accommodate the large number of public speakers by allowing them to speak before the developers gave their responses to the previously submitted materials. A hard end time of 11:00 p.m. was decided, with an additional meeting for public comment and the developer response set for a future date.

The first public speaker was Gloria Gouveia of Land Use Consultants in Westport.

“I’d like to start out by saying it gives me no great pleasure to be here tonight to critique an important project that might otherwise have the hallmarks of a splendid proposal,” Gouveia said, after noting that she was appearing on behalf of the ENNA. She raised issues with both clerical matters in the submission and highlighted concerns about the potential impact of the development’s impact on water flowing into the site. She disputed whether the rain gardens and catchment basins in the proposal would constitute an improvement over the current site’s impact on water quality.

“I know these are very technical issues, but they’re important issues because we need to know that this drainage is going to work,” she said.

Gouveia also critiqued the design on aesthetic grounds, expressed fears that first responders could be endangered by poor site access and roof mounted solar panels, and she stressed the submitted plans would conflict with existing zoning codes based on how height above grade was calculated.

The building’s current design, which earns some variances from the zoning code for providing certain “bonus features” such as a public courtyard also came under fire from Gouveia. She disputed whether several features truly qualify and argued that the current system was too lenient.

“We’ve heard that the water quality will be improved over the current circumstances, forgive me but I think a bunch of people with sponges could improve water quality on that site,” Gouveia said of the points the project stood to earn on that front.

With the exception of one resident who said he was prompted to research the project after seeing the yard signs and came to support it, every speaker in person or on Zoom decried the project, mainly referring to points made by Gouveia or included in the form letter ENNA provided for submission to the PZC.

Plans for revision to Cemetery Street are subject to approval of the Connecticut Department of Transportation because the road is part of State Route 136 and under the department’s control. Those changes are likely to be implemented regardless of the fate of the development. The plan includes adding a sidewalk along the edge of the historic graveyard that gives Cemetery Street its name and a tweaked traffic flow to reduce speed and improve safety. These also drew much criticism in particular the developer run traffic study.

Alex Knopp, a former mayor of Norwalk who lives several blocks away from the proposed development, was among those joining the Zoom call. He voiced his displeasure with the findings which indicated a peak traffic flow of 350 cars a day past the site and projected minimal impact from the development.

“I have to say that this traffic study is one of the worst I have ever seen in my years of public service, because to do a traffic study in East Norwalk in March is like doing a traffic study around Yankee Stadium in December,” he said. “No wonder the counts are so low– are you kidding? Norwalk is a very different place in the summer, spring, and fall months than it is in March.”

Many speakers who did not voice their thoughts before the 11:00 p.m. cutoff time will have a chance to speak during an extension to the public meeting that is scheduled for March 15.