P&Z Approves Golden's Noroton Heights Rezoning Plan

The Darien Planning & Zoning Commission voted 5-1 Tuesday to okay developer Tom Golden's Noroton Heights commercial district rezoning plan, removing a key hurdle for an eventual overhaul of the site.

The approval—accompanied by several amendments to Golden's original proposal—comes nearly five months after the developer filed for the creation of the Noroton Heights Mixed Use Zone. The plan allows for the construction of retail, office, and residential units on a site currently dominated by strip mall-type stores

Among other changes, the overlay zone gives the commission power to grant special permits raising height limitations from two stories to three and to allow the construction of parking structures of up to one story above ground.

"What we're getting in this application, I think, is a big picture approach," attorney Bruce Hill, who represents Golden, said in July.

The revisions do not include specific building plans, as any structures proposed for the site will need to go through the standard P&Z approval process. Still, a set of conceptual designs distributed by Golden hint at the type of reconfiguration the developer may pursue.

Those renderings show blocks of three-story buildings flanking Edgerton Street and running along the south side of West Avenue. Storefronts in the sketches are concentrated on the first story around a central parking lot, while apartments occupy the upper levels.

At a public hearing in July, neighbors of the site voiced a litany of concerns about the plan, including its impact on traffic, public safety, property values, and drainage.

Flood mitigation—a perennial issue for that section of town—featured prominently in the discussion at Tuesday's meeting and has become a flashpoint lately between Republican and Democratic members of the Board of Selectmen.

Susan Cameron was the lone commissioner to vote no.