Applicant for 284 New Canaan Ave to seek public hearings on corrective-action restoration and yard modification; commissioners raise buffer concerns

Representatives for 284 New Canaan Ave presented two related applications on Jan. 14: a corrective-action permit to restore an area where trees and vegetation were cleared, and a separate modification to an existing contractor-yard permit that would regularize prior clearing and add a yard expansion and an acoustical/demarcation wall.

Brian Carey, a professional wetland scientist with LandTech, said the corrective-action submittal documents dense replanting intended to return the disturbed area to a forested wetland. The planting plan calls for trees approximately 6 feet tall, 2–2.5-inch caliper, dense shrub layering and native seed cover; the applicant proposed a five-year monitoring program with annual reports to city staff. "We are going to replace all of the trees, with trees that are 6 foot in height, about 2 inch in caliper," Carey said.

Carey said the corrective-action application has a public hearing scheduled for Jan. 28 and that the team will respond to a staff memo dated Jan. 9 with minor clarifications. The commission voted to set the corrective-action public hearing for Jan. 28.

Separately, LandTech presented a modification of a 2016/2018 permit that would reconfigure the contractor yard and add an acoustical barrier and demarcation wall intended to reduce noise and shield storage bins from neighbors. The applicant said the planned yard expansion would cover about 39,618 square feet of additional area and that roughly 40 trees (measured as 12-inch DBH and larger per the applicant’s survey) would be removed as part of the change; the proponent said surface material would remain unpaved, compacted fill and that the plan includes underground detention galleries and multiple catch basins to collect runoff. Carey said the total expansion area is "39,618 feet."

Commissioners expressed strong concerns about the proposal’s loss of tree cover and the narrow vegetated buffers shown on the plan. They asked for more detail on tree counts, the size classes of trees being removed, the location and design of underground detention, and clearer depiction of the vegetated buffer width around wetlands. One commissioner asked whether conditions could bind future owners; staff replied that the commission’s authority regulates current and proposed activities and must evaluate impacts under the inland-wetlands regulations, and that potential future ownership change would not itself change the wetland impact analysis.

On the acoustical/demarcation wall, the applicant described a concrete block barrier with backfill, chain-link fencing with black slats, and vegetative plantings to screen the wall. Commissioners asked about alternative, lower-impact materials and long-term effects of concrete and compacted surfaces near wetland edges. The applicant noted the proposed layout flips storage bins against the barrier to increase separation from the wetland and neighboring properties and said three catch basins are proposed to capture runoff.

The modification will return for public hearing with additional details; applicants said they will respond to staff memos and meet with an engineering reviewer from public works. The commission did not approve the modification at the Jan. 14 meeting.