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Residents and council members urge keeping parking commission safeguards; warn of P&Z's legislative power
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Summary
At a public hearing on Draft Report v9, town council members and residents urged the commission to preserve strong charter protections for the parking commission and highlighted planning and zoning's broad regulatory authority under state law.
The Charter Revision Commission opened a public hearing on its draft report and heard several hours of public testimony focused heavily on downtown parking and the scope of planning and zoning authority.
Kim Norton, a town council member, urged the commission to retain the charter’s existing, robust language governing the parking commission’s duties. She said the commission’s multi-step review process — which contemplates parking commission recommendation, Board of Selectmen consideration, police commission rulings on on-street policy, and planning and zoning review for systemic changes — provides public notice, cross-agency coordination and legal safeguards. "Following the charter for the parking commission is not optional," Norton said, arguing that weakening those provisions risks bypassing public review.
Christina Ross, also a town council member, cited Connecticut statutes and explained that the parking commission operates as a quasi-independent municipal authority under Connecticut General Statutes 7-204a and 7-204w, which give such bodies operational and financial authority. Ross and other speakers urged clearer charter language so organizational responsibilities — who initiates parking policy, who enforces it, and what needs ordinance authority — are not ambiguous.
Other commenters and commissioners asked the CRC to preserve or modernize the parking commission’s existing duties rather than reduce them to advisory language. Several members of the public and some commissioners said recent meter placements on Elm and Main Streets illustrated what happens when a multi-agency review is skipped.
Why it matters: parking regulation affects downtown businesses, municipal property, and traffic circulation. The hearing highlighted a tension in New Canaan: some want more flexible, streamlined decision-making; others want the charter safeguards preserved so land‑use and parking changes go through explicit public steps.
What’s next: the commission will accept written submissions and incorporate public comments into Draft Report v10; legal staff will review statute citations and advise whether proposed charter edits are consistent with state law.
