NEW CANAAN, Conn. — The Planning and Zoning Commission’s zoning regulation update subcommittee and its consultants presented the first public workshop on a yearlong effort to rewrite the town’s zoning regulations on Thursday, outlining goals, a timeline and a set of topics the team will study before drafting formal changes.

Consultant Frank Fish of BFJ Planning told the assembled audience the subcommittee and BFJ have been working on the update for about three months and aim to complete a revised zoning code for the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider within roughly 12 to 13 months. "The goal has always been to make the zoning code stronger, cleaner," Fish said.

The update will be guided by the town’s 2024 Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) and must comply with Connecticut law, the consultants said. Suzanne Goldberg of BFJ explained that zoning divides land into districts that determine permitted uses and physical form — height, setbacks and lot area — and emphasized that the rewrite will aim to make the code more predictable and user-friendly while reducing the need for exceptions.

BFJ planner Emily Tolbert summarized the project scope and a preliminary list of subjects under review. Key items the subcommittee and consultants plan to evaluate include:

- Two-family homes in the B residence zone (near downtown and the train station): the consultants will study whether allowing two-family housing more broadly is appropriate; currently two-family homes are allowed by special permit in that district.

- Accessory structures and thresholds for special permits: the team will review whether the range of accessory uses (pool houses, sports/game courts, guest houses) and current site-disturbance thresholds should continue to require commission review or be handled administratively.

- Business-zone standards and permitting: New Canaan currently has six business zones covering about 75 acres (roughly 1% of town land) downtown. The consultants will study whether consolidation or simplification of those zones and expanded administrative review for small change-of-use applications would streamline permitting.

- Inclusionary housing policy and multifamily zones: the consultants will review New Canaan’s inclusionary zoning approach — currently a 15% set-aside for affordable units in multifamily projects of five or more units — and assess apartment and multifamily zone standards that date back decades.

- Nonconforming lots and institutional uses: the team will evaluate how the code treats pre-existing nonconforming lots and structures and whether institutional uses (schools, religious institutions) need clearer, uniform standards to avoid one-off text amendments.

- Site standards and environmental controls: possible updates under consideration include impervious-surface or green-space minimums and protections for steep slopes and stormwater, along with updated signage, landscaping, lighting and parking rules.

The consultants emphasized this first meeting is informational and that formal recommendations will come later in the process. Tolbert outlined the public-engagement plan: two public workshops (October and a second workshop in spring), stakeholder interviews and an online survey planned for January–March next year, followed by Planning and Zoning Commission hearings expected in late spring or June.

Public commenters addressed design, permitting burdens and downtown congestion. Resident and professional engineer Rob Frangione said he feared new standards could make projects that were previously allowed effectively disallowed, citing examples in other towns and urging caution about strict impervious-surface limits. "At some point, you have to give people the freedom to do what they like," Frangione said, while also recommending reducing special-permit requirements for larger residential lots and raising the site-disturbance threshold now set at 10,000 square feet.

A Zoom participant identified as Maurice, who lives downtown, urged the subcommittee to protect building form and the streetwall on Main Street north of Elm — describing that block as a defining example of the town’s historic downtown character. "I think of streets as rooms," Maurice said, and urged attention to how buildings form a continuous streetwall.

Property owner Terry Spring told the subcommittee congestion and parking in the central business district deserved focused attention. "Whatever we can do to reduce congestion within the Central Business District is going to be very valuable to everyone," Spring said.

Staff directed the public to the project webpage for materials, noted that all written public comments will be posted online, and said the meeting recording and presentation will be available on the town’s meeting archive and YouTube page. The consultants asked attendees to sign up for public-comment speaking slots or submit comments to Town Planner Sarah (email provided at the meeting) and said a follow-up interactive workshop is planned for spring when draft concepts will be available for more detailed public review.

No formal votes or ordinance proposals were taken at the workshop; the subcommittee and BFJ planners framed the session as the first step in developing draft text and map changes that will return to the commission for public hearings and eventual adoption.