“Too industrial.” “Too sterile.” “It looks like a correction facility.”
Those were comments from members of Shelton’s Planning and Zoning Commission on architectural designs for a Canal Street property where a developer wants to build 68 apartments.
Commission members indicated at a meeting Tuesday (June 2) that they’re OK with the number of apartments proposed — and the 106 parking spaces to accommodate the residences — but they want the developer to take another crack at the building’s design before they give their final OK.
The developer, John Guedes, said Wednesday that’s fine with him.
In April Guedes sought the commission’s approval for the next phase of residential development on Canal Street, which for years was lined with industrial-era factories but is now being reborn in accordance with a “master plan” to build about 600 apartments there.
Several hundred have already been built in the Birmingham, a former corset factory next to the Derby-Shelton Bridge, and Avalon Shelton, which opened in 2013.
Guedes, who authored the Canal Street master plan, is now proposing 68 apartments to be built at 223 Canal St., the property immediately to the north of the Avalon complex.
The Proposal
Guedes wants to level the buildings that currently occupy 223 Canal St., a 1.25-acre site and build the new apartments in a three-and-a-half story, T‑shaped brick building.
The target rent for the units will be $1,200 to $1,400.
Guedes’ plans call for 106 parking spaces underneath and around the building, a ratio of about 1.6 spaces per apartment.
There would be 21 one-bedroom apartments and 47 two-bedrooms.
Design
Though zoners indicated they’re receptive to Guedes’ plan to put 68 apartments on the property, they were less than impressed with the design of the building.
“It’s got to be dressed up,” Jimmy Tickey, a member of the commission, said. “It looks too sterile.”
Another commissioner, Thomas McGorty, said Guedes should “add some nice architectural features” to the design.
“It needs to be broken up,” McGorty said. “It’s a brick box with a roof of doghouses.”
“It looks like a correction facility,” Nancy Dickal, another member of the commission, said.
Guedes said via an email that he’ll rework the design for the commission.
“Since we are demolishing industrial buildings to build a new one, It was my intention to have this building look industrial,” Guedes said. “However, some members of the commission felt that since it is a new building that I should tone down the industrial look.”
“I explained my reasons for the design that I created, but I also acknowledged and understood their concerns. I committed to developing alternate elevation designs,” Guedes said. “I will be presenting them to the commission when I go before them with the final detail plans. I appreciate their participation and believe that ultimately it will make for a better design.”
Parking?
The application drew criticism from John Watts, who owns 235 Canal St., the property immediately to the north of 223 Canal St., who told the commission in April that they’ve already approved too much residential development on Canal Street without first taking into account parking and traffic concerns.
Watts’ comments reflect a common theme of Facebook comments posted by Shelton residents when links to Canal Street development stories are posted on the Valley Indy Facebook page.
And in a straw poll posted by the Valley Indy in a story on Guedes’ proposal asking readers whether parking is a problem on Canal Street, 92 percent of those who responded voted yes.
But commission members on Wednesday indicated that 106 parking spots on the property will be enough for 68 apartments.
“I think we have to consider the area that we’re in. We’re in a downtown area,” Ruth Parkins, the commission’s chairwoman, said.
Parkins said she went to a recent conference in Darien and asked a real estate developer there what the rule of thumb was for having enough parking in downtown residential developments.
“They said their ratio was one (spot) for one-bedroom (apartments), one and a half for a two-bedroom, and two for three,” Parkins said.
By that math, Parkins pointed out, Guedes would only need to provide 92 parking spaces on the property.
“Downtown living and what these millennials are now looking for, they’re not looking to entertain,” Parkins said. “These kids don’t want to cook, they don’t want to entertain. They want to go meet their friends at the bar, and that’s what downtown living is about.”
Rick Schultz, Shelton’s zoning administrator, pointed out that that the commission, when it originally approved the master plan for the redevelopment of Canal Street, figured more parking would be needed.
“The ultimate goal by the commission was to try to get to two spaces per dwelling unit,” Schultz said. “You started with one for the Birmingham, and tried to strive to get one and a half to two with assistance from the city.”
But that didn’t happen, as Guedes pointed out during the public hearing on the project.
“Now this applicant is saying one and a half is sufficient,” Schultz said.
