Application Seeking Special Permit For Great Island Stables Postponed

DARIEN, CT — An application from the town of Darien for a special permit to rent out the equestrian facilities on Great Island and use them for boarding and training horses, riding lessons and a summer camp has been postponed to September.

The item was originally scheduled to go before the Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday night, but First Selectman Monica McNally submitted a letter to P&Z earlier that day asking for the application to be continued.

The item will now go before the commission on Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m. inside room 206 at Darien Town Hall. Anyone who wishes to submit a letter or email commenting on the application can send to Planning & Zoning between now and then.

"As we pursue our due diligence in conjunction with the purchase of Great Island, we would request that the application for the above referenced special permit be continued to Sept. 13, 2022," McNally's letter read.

The Darien Representative Town Meeting approved the purchase of the 60-acre property last month. Darien now has until Aug. 6 to continue due diligence on the purchase, and if the town finds the island is unsuitable, the town can terminate the agreement and the deposit will be refunded, First Selectman Monica McNally said at last month's RTM Meeting.

If all goes well, Darien expects to close on the property and take ownership of the land on Sept. 5.

According to documents submitted to the commission, the town would bring in an outside operator to run a full service show stable for "programmed active recreational use with very specific restrictions and limits."

The operator would offer full boarding and training of up to 18 horses, a riding lesson program for ages 5 and up, and a summer camp program.

The summer camp would be limited to 36 students, plus onsite staff and instructors, and run annually from mid-June until Aug. 30.

The documents state that the operator would run the facilities between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days per week. A minimum of 15 minutes between activities would be scheduled by the operator to alleviate potential traffic congestion.

While the long-term uses for Great Island are yet to be figured out, Darien Planning & Zoning Director Jeremy Ginsberg told Patch recently that renting out the stables in the short-term is beneficial because of the historic nature of the building.

"For the short term, there was a desire to at least keep the lights on and get some use out of the building," Ginsberg said.

The stable building was designed by Rafael Guastavino, a renowned architect from the late 1800's.

Guastavino's signature "tile arch system" was used in buildings like Carnegie Hall, Grand Central Terminal, Grant's Tomb, Boston Public Library, the U.S. Supreme Court and the New York American Museum of Natural History.