Stanford Planning Board Meeting – May 6, 2026
Stanford Planning Board Meeting – May 6, 2026
The Stanford Planning Board met on May 6, 2026, to consider several capital project appropriations, a zoning variance referral, and routine approvals. All agenda items were approved unanimously.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes: The board unanimously approved the minutes from the April 28, 2026 meeting.
Discussion Items
- Capital Project Closeout (Transfer Station Canal Wall): Lou Castleau, City Engineer, presented a request to close out $2,537,000 in federal grant funds from the transfer station canal wall replacement project (CP 400062). The federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) changed its cost share from 80/20 to 60/40, requiring a reduction in the federal allocation. The board approved the closeout.
- Transfer Station Canal Wall Replacement – Supplemental Appropriation: The board then approved a supplemental capital appropriation of $3,437,000. This included $2,537,000 in city bonds to replace the reduced federal share (raising the city share to 40%) and $900,000 for design—$675,000 from a FEMA BRIC grant (75% federal) and $225,000 local match. The design application is due May 7, 2026.
- Stamford High Priority Project (Exterior Envelope & Science Labs): Catherine and Travis Schnell (KGD Architects) presented a $9,925,945 request to amend the capital budget for improvements to the 1971 building at Stamford High School (55 Strawberry Hill Road). The project includes full facade replacement, new windows, and renovation of science labs into 15 modern labs (universal, chemistry, and STEM). The total project budget is $27,501,800 with a 60% state reimbursement. The local share remains unchanged; the state share increases from $4,650,000 to $14,575,954. Construction is anticipated for 2028. The board recommended approval.
- Stamford Harbor Boat Launch Feasibility Study: The board approved a $12,500 grant (50% state, 50% local from Harbor Commission fund balance) for a site evaluation and preliminary design of a public boat launch at Kosciuszko Park. The prior feasibility study (completed in 2025) identified the northeastern side of the park as the most suitable site.
- Zoning Board of Appeals Referral – 78 Old North Stamford Road: The board reviewed a variance request for a side yard setback of 9.9 feet (required 15 ft) and combined side yard setback of 26.9 feet (required 35 ft) to construct an attached two-car garage with a second floor above, connected to an existing detached garage. The property is at 78 Old North Stamford Road. Raymond Mazio of Redniss & Mead represented the applicants. The board noted the architectural quality and neighbor support, and recommended approval.
Key Outcomes
- All items approved unanimously:
- Approval of meeting minutes.
- Closeout of $2,537,000 in federal grant funds for canal wall project.
- Supplemental appropriation of $3,437,000 for canal wall project (city bonds and FEMA design funds).
- Authorization to amend capital budget for Stamford High Priority Project (state share increase).
- Approval of $12,500 for harbor boat launch feasibility study.
- Recommendation of approval for ZBA variance at 78 Old North Stamford Road.
- Next meetings: May 19, June 9, and June 23 (last before July hiatus).
Meeting Transcript
All right. Good evening. This is the uh May 5th, 2026 meeting of the Stanford Planning Board. Uh first on our agenda is the planning board meeting minutes from our last meeting, April 28th, 2026. Um do any members of the board have any questions or corrections for the minutes? Nope. No. All right. Um hearing none, uh, kind of a motion of approval for the minutes. Right, we'll move uh motion from Drew, second from chat. All in favor. And it passes. Thank you. Um first uh on the uh business docket is request for authorization, supplemental capital project appropriation requests. Um uh the first is capital project closeout recommendations. Um you want to go ahead and uh introduce yourself for the record to present uh the items. I imagine they're linked together. Actually, so if you'd like me to read into the record multiple items, please let me know. So uh Lou Castleau, City Engineer, I'll present the the items. Uh you are correct. The items are uh interrelated and um connected to each other. Uh just to start off. Um, I think sorry, Lou for um just let's get let's read them both into the record right now just so we can tie up the ends. We're good to go when we ready to vote. Okay. All right. Um, so reading into the record the capital project appropriation requests, and the first is capital project closeout recommendations inclusive of transfer station, canal wall replacement, um, and the amount of 2,537,000 federal grant. Um item two on the agenda, transfer station canal wall replacement project CP 400062, total request of 3,437,000. Um item three, Stanford High Priority Project. Oh, not Stanford High. Okay, just those two. Okay, got it. Yeah, those two items one and two. That's what we're gonna be talking about. I'll do this as quickly as possible, and I'll try to be as clear as I can. Um just high level. Jeremy joined at 633. Thank you so much, Lou. Please go ahead. Okay, no problem. Um, this project is to basically appropriate funds for the design and the construction uh of a new replacement seawall uh along the east branch of the Stanford Harbor. This is an existing wall that is in poor condition that supports the solid waste facility and the WPCA if you're familiar with that area. Um you know currently the wall is uh vintage 19, 1980, 81. Uh there was a lot of work done there in the mid-80s. It was done in different phases, but the wall has been hit a number of times, it's um heavily deteriorated and uh eroding um uh significantly. Uh I've done several needs assessments on the wall back in 19 uh 2019 and also in 2023. So I'm pretty familiar with its condition. Um it uh just so you know, um the capital budget appropriation was approved uh on August 5th of 2024 for the project. Um these funds were that were appropriated were based on an EDA economic development uh grant uh that was being pursued at the time, and at that time the grant split was 8020. Uh that was you know we're going into this thinking it was gonna be 80 20, and the funds that were appropriated back um uh in um at that time were were sufficient.
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