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Commission appoints peer reviewer and waives public hearing for conversion at 94 East Avenue
Summary
The commission moved forward with appointment of a peer architectural reviewer for a coastal site plan conversion at 94 East Avenue (office-to-residential) and voted not to require a public hearing, citing the interior nature of proposed changes.
The Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission voted to appoint a peer architectural reviewer (BFJ was the staff recommendation) and determined a public hearing was not required for a proposed change of use at 94 East Avenue that would convert about 5,200 square feet of office space into six residential units.
Project overview and presentation Attorney Liz Saatchi, representing 94 East Ave, LLC, presented the preliminary conversion plan with project architect Bill Andriopoulos and a project team on the record. Saatchi said the building — a multi-level structure originally constructed around 1825 with later additions — currently contains about 5,300 square feet of office and five residential units. The proposal is to convert the office space into six residential units (a studio, three one-bedrooms and two two-bedrooms) for a total of 11 units. The applicant proposed paying a onetime fee in lieu of designating an affordable unit, per the zoning regulation option.
Peer review appointment and public hearing decision Staff recommended BFJ for architectural peer review and the commission moved to retain a peer reviewer to begin the iterative review process between architect and reviewer. The commission then voted that a separate public hearing was not necessary because the work is primarily interior and involves conversion of existing conditioned space; members noted the applicant will still go through the standard architectural and zoning-review process with the appointed consultant.
Next steps The applicant will proceed with peer review by the appointed firm and return to the commission with any required exterior changes. The applicant also intends to finalize parking and minor exterior adjustments; the project team said there are 32 on-site parking spaces currently and the conversion will require fewer than the existing number of spaces.
Ending Commissioners asked staff to provide comparative assessment data on tax-value differences between office and residential uses in the neighborhood for commission information going forward.
