Coastal Connecticut Times

The "What": This Week in Southwest Connecticut

Your view of Coastal Connecticut—when it was just a little bit warmer and drier. Photo by Kelly Prinz.

Tuesday, January 18

Happy Tuesday! With the federal holiday yesterday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we thought it would be best to send the newsletter today.

First some big news: we’re officially launching the Coastal Connecticut Times website with our first story this Friday, January 21! As loyal email subscribers you’ll get notified that day when it goes live, but feel free to share with your family and friends beforehand.

Our weekly newsletter aims to provide you with information about important things happening across the area (Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, and Fairfield). Each week we'll have a run down on the “what”—meetings, hearings, programs, initiatives, events—taking place across the region. And later this week you'll get our first piece taking on the “why”—the stories behind what's happening.

(Please note: We try to link to agendas, documents, and other reports when we can, but that information is not always available at the time of publication.)

Let’s dive in!

Stamford:

The Board of Representatives’ Land Use and Urban Redevelopment Committee will be examining two big items—issues with noise and the process for appealing Zoning Board decisions—on Thursday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.

The first issue stems from complaints made by residents in the South End and District 1 area who reported quality of life issues related to loud noises and music, particularly related to late, outdoor activity during the summer, according to Rep. Bradley Bewkes, chair of the Land Use committee. Other representatives said this could be an opportunity to look into the city's noise ordinance to try and address these issues, and other noise concerns throughout the city. Business owners, city officials, and others are invited to the committee's meeting for a public hearing.

For the second issue, Board of Representatives members want to hear from city officials in the Land Use Bureau as well as the city's legal counsel, about the process for petitioning Zoning Board decisions, and specifically how it was followed in December.

Residents, particularly members of the Stamford Neighborhood Coalition, submitted a petition appealing changes the Zoning Board approved for Designed Commercial Districts in the city. According to the city's ordinances, petitions “shall be referred by the Zoning Board to the Board of Representatives within twenty days after such official publication.”

However in this case, the petition was reviewed by the Land Use Bureau, which determined that the signatures were not valid and that decision was backed up by Corporation Counsel, the city's legal counsel. The petition was never sent on.

Rep. Nina Sherwood, vice chair of the Board of Reps’ Land Use committee, said that “there is a fundamental problem when the applicant (the city in this case) is the one reviewing the signatures for the appeal,” which is why the committee plans to review the process itself, what happened in this case, and what the possible next steps might be.

The Board of Education’s Fiscal Committee will be reviewing the Superintendent’s budget on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m. Superintendent Tamu Lucero has proposed a $306.9 million budget, a 4.56% increase over last year. Social-emotional support for students, combating the academic impacts of COVID-19, increasing special education services, and creating pathways for career connected learning are some of the top priorities listed in the budget.