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Record of Proceedings

Stamford City Planning Board Meeting - September 30, 2025: Approvals of Minutes and Coastal Site Plan

Zoning Board — Tuesday, September 30, 2025
BodyStamford, Connecticut
SessionZoning Board
DateTuesday, September 30, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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0:03

It's a sign of a well uh planned community.

0:07

So thank you.

0:09

Good.

0:10

Thank you.

0:11

Okay.

0:12

Then we uh application 225-30 is closed.

0:20

And um I hope we'll have the chance to vote on it at our next meeting on um October 6th.

0:29

Well, thank you.

0:29

Uh in that regard, uh, I would just say, Mr.

0:32

Chairman, uh as a personal uh favor.

0:35

Uh I saw that you if it doesn't happen at your next meeting, uh, you have changed the date of the following meeting, and I will be unavailable for that.

0:46

So if it could happen at your next meeting, that would be very, very appreciated.

0:51

Sure.

0:51

Yeah, I don't think.

0:52

Plus, it would get this project going.

0:55

Yeah.

0:56

Vanita, does that seem to work?

0:59

Um that should that should work.

1:01

Um also Mr.

1:03

Moore wanted to speak about ARD briefly.

1:06

Uh should I unmute him or uh oh, why not?

1:11

Sure.

1:11

Go ahead.

1:13

All right.

1:14

Um Mike, you should be able to unmute yourself.

1:18

Uh thank you all.

1:19

Just a very brief comment about your discussion about ARDD previously.

1:24

I worked very closely with Mr.

1:26

Blessing and Miss Matter on uh ARDD reviews, facade and signage.

1:33

Um, and as attorney Henderson uh uh and uh Brandon Salvatore and I have already discussed the review for this project.

1:41

Um so it is certainly a priority for um review of facade conditions.

1:47

So we're very active with it.

1:49

Good, good.

1:50

And then you know, your the input from DSSD is is very important.

1:56

Um because you have a lot of folks who know probably a lot more about design than we do.

2:04

So um we we value it greatly.

2:09

We have a small committee, Mr.

2:10

Chairman, to help us review.

2:12

So thank you.

2:14

Good.

2:15

Thank you.

2:17

Um okay, we're now into the regular meeting.

2:22

Um back up just a bit.

2:25

Um, so Vanita for uh Lloyd.

2:29

Um I know we're in kind of a tight schedule here.

2:33

We're gonna vote on this next uh Monday.

2:36

Yeah, but uh is it possible?

2:38

Do you think to get conditions um draft to them out in the next few days?

2:44

Yes, I can do that.

2:46

Okay.

2:51

Okay, regular meeting.

2:53

First thing we have is approval of the minutes of September 8th.

2:58

Um did anyone um have any comments on that?

3:06

Let's see.

3:10

There's a lot of minutes.

3:11

Yeah.

3:13

I didn't remember the meeting being that long.

3:15

I do.

3:17

Yeah, no, it says 9 45.

3:20

Uh that's good for us.

3:22

That's because me and Roseanne moved it along, that's why.

3:27

That must have been it.

3:29

I thought it was because Jerry wasn't there.

3:33

Uh shame, Mr.

3:34

Chairman.

3:36

Uh okay.

3:38

Well, um, do we have any uh comments or corrections to the minute?

3:45

Mr.

3:45

Chairman, I moved it.

3:46

We approve the minutes for the September 8th, 2025 meeting as submitted.

3:54

Okay, any further discussion.

3:57

All in favor say aye.

3:59

Aye.

3:59

Aye.

4:00

The uh minutes are approved.

4:02

Abstain, Mr.

4:03

Chairman.

4:03

I wouldn't I didn't attend.

4:04

They're approved 301.

4:07

Um next we have uh CSPR 1218, Andrew Mitchell Namdar, 139 Downs Avenue.

4:20

Applicant proposes to demolish the existing dwelling and construct a new single family residence with associated improvements.

4:27

Property is within the cam boundary.

4:30

Umita, this looked like it was uh a pretty extensive application.

4:37

Um just take us through that, please.

4:41

Sure.

4:42

Um this property is on the water.

4:44

Um it has uh single family residence currently.

4:49

Um the property is in partially in the VE zone.

4:54

Um and partially in the AE zone.

5:00

Um the applicant, you know, is proposing to demolish the existing residence and you know when building the new residence, it will be elevated above the VE elevation.

5:10

Uh the finished floor, finished first floor would be at 18 feet, so it'll be you know all living areas will be clear of uh flood elevation.

5:21

Um any portions below that will just be used for storage and parking.

5:27

Uh so this is a you know a substantial improvement um in the flood flood trone area.

5:34

Um so we have positive recommendations from all the departments.

5:39

Um also you know, as part of the uh reconstruction, uh they're putting in uh two new uh stormwater uh treatment uh systems, the impervious coverage will be about the same as what it is now.

5:54

You know, uh there's a robust landscape plan that was submitted.

5:59

So overall it's an improvement of what's there currently.

6:04

Okay, I didn't see the EPB letter.

6:08

Could you put that up please?

6:10

Sure.

6:11

Give me one minute.

6:12

It's September dated September 24th.

6:24

It'll take me a minute to get get to it.

6:55

Okay, let me share my screen.

7:04

Did you say dated September 24th?

7:07

Yes.

7:08

You mean like just a couple days ago?

7:12

Do was this sent out?

7:13

I didn't see it.

7:15

Um it should have I think it was sent electronically.

7:19

Are you able to see it now?

7:21

Yeah, I think I think we got it in an email because it came after the packages went out.

7:27

Okay.

7:28

Okay.

7:29

Right.

7:30

I think now all the entirety of coastal site plan applications are sent electronically.

7:37

Yeah.

7:37

Yeah.

7:38

Yeah, we got it, Dave.

7:40

So you probably should see it.

7:41

Okay.

7:41

Can you do they have any where are the recommendations?

7:48

Right.

7:49

Um so the first one's reference to the plans.

8:01

Performance.

8:02

Okay, it looks like the standard uh okay, good.

8:07

Thank you.

8:08

Um is there any discussion on this application?

8:15

Good question.

8:16

Do you have does this does this new house have dry access?

8:22

Um yes.

8:25

What does that mean, Bill?

8:26

Well, no, you can walk out of the house and get to a street to safety if there was a flood.

8:31

As opposed to having to stay in the second floor, waiting for helicopter come get you.

8:41

Yes, you're required to have dry access.

8:43

Okay, I didn't the way for where I looked, I didn't look like it, but I wasn't sure.

8:47

Okay.

8:49

Um that's it for me.

8:50

Thanks.

8:50

Manita, can you just go through the list of what the uh comment letters are?

8:55

Sure.

8:59

Please.

9:01

Second.

9:12

Okay, so the EVU report that we just saw was dated September 24th.

9:17

Which engineering the EPB report was dated September 24th.

9:23

The engineering report was dated August 27th.

9:27

I think there were two of them, right?

9:31

The late just one is the one that I have listed.

9:37

There might have been comments before that.

9:39

No, we have we have two from engineering.

9:46

Uh yes.

9:48

There was one.

9:51

The first one is from June 17th.

9:54

617.

9:55

Okay, and 827.

9:57

And then yeah.

9:59

Okay.

10:00

827.

10:01

Um the deep report from Karen Michaels is dated June 5th.

10:07

And the Harbor Management Commission letter is dated June 28th.

10:16

Um there's no other ones.

10:21

Um, that's all.

10:24

Okay.

10:25

Uh any discussion on this.

10:28

Can we get a motion to approve with the uh comment letters that uh Vanita just went through?

10:37

I move that we approve CSPR 1218 with all the comment letters uh just discussed.

10:46

And I so move.

10:47

I second that, Mr.

10:48

Chairman.

10:50

Good.

10:50

Any further discussion?

10:52

All in favor say aye.

10:54

Aye.

10:56

Um all opposed.

10:59

Any abstentions?

11:01

Okay, it's approved uh four zero.

11:04

Next, Jeremy, can we have uh like five minutes before we go on?

11:09

Three minutes.

11:11

Uh five minutes is good.

11:13

Let's take a five-minute recess.

11:14

It's five nine forty-four.

11:16

Why don't we come back at uh nine fifty?

11:19

Thank you.

11:28

Yeah, thanks.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procedural████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Planning and Zoning██████████████████████████████████████████42%
Environmental Protection████████8%
Engineering And Infrastructure██████6%
Summary of Proceedings

Stamford City Planning Board Meeting - September 30, 2025

The meeting convened on September 30, 2025, and included closing of Application 225-30, a brief discussion on ARD review, approval of the September 8, 2025 meeting minutes, and a coastal site plan application (CSPR 1218) for 139 Downs Avenue. The board voted on several items and set a future vote date.

Discussion Items

  • Application 225-30: The board closed the public hearing on this application. A vote is scheduled for the next meeting on October 6, 2025. One board member requested that the vote occur at that meeting due to a scheduling conflict, and the chair indicated it would be possible.
  • ARD (Architectural Review District): Mr. Moore spoke briefly about the ARD review process for the project, noting his work with Mr. Blessing and Miss Matter on ARD reviews, facade, and signage. He stated that the review of facade conditions is a priority and that input from DSSD is valued.
  • Approval of Minutes of September 8, 2025: The board approved the minutes as submitted. The minutes were approved with a vote of 3 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstention (a member who did not attend the previous meeting).
  • CSPR 1218 – Andrew Mitchell Namdar, 139 Downs Avenue: The applicant proposes to demolish the existing dwelling and construct a new single-family residence with associated improvements. The property is within the Coastal Area Management (CAM) boundary and partially in VE and AE flood zones. The new residence will be elevated above flood elevation, with finished first floor at 18 feet; lower portions will be used for storage and parking. Two new stormwater treatment systems will be installed, and impervious coverage will remain approximately the same. The board reviewed comment letters from Engineering (June 17 and August 27), EPB (September 24), DEEP (June 5), and Harbor Management Commission (June 28). The board confirmed dry access to the street. A motion to approve with all comment letters carried 4-0.

Key Outcomes

  • Application 225-30 public hearing closed; vote set for October 6, 2025.
  • Minutes of September 8, 2025 approved (3-0-1).
  • CSPR 1218 approved unanimously (4-0) with conditions from the comment letters.
  • The meeting took a five-minute recess at 9:44 PM, resuming at 9:50 PM.

Meeting Transcript

It's a sign of a well uh planned community. So thank you. Good. Thank you. Okay. Then we uh application 225-30 is closed. And um I hope we'll have the chance to vote on it at our next meeting on um October 6th. Well, thank you. Uh in that regard, uh, I would just say, Mr. Chairman, uh as a personal uh favor. Uh I saw that you if it doesn't happen at your next meeting, uh, you have changed the date of the following meeting, and I will be unavailable for that. So if it could happen at your next meeting, that would be very, very appreciated. Sure. Yeah, I don't think. Plus, it would get this project going. Yeah. Vanita, does that seem to work? Um that should that should work. Um also Mr. Moore wanted to speak about ARD briefly. Uh should I unmute him or uh oh, why not? Sure. Go ahead. All right. Um Mike, you should be able to unmute yourself. Uh thank you all. Just a very brief comment about your discussion about ARDD previously. I worked very closely with Mr. Blessing and Miss Matter on uh ARDD reviews, facade and signage. Um, and as attorney Henderson uh uh and uh Brandon Salvatore and I have already discussed the review for this project. Um so it is certainly a priority for um review of facade conditions. So we're very active with it. Good, good. And then you know, your the input from DSSD is is very important. Um because you have a lot of folks who know probably a lot more about design than we do. So um we we value it greatly. We have a small committee, Mr. Chairman, to help us review. So thank you. Good. Thank you. Um okay, we're now into the regular meeting. Um back up just a bit. Um, so Vanita for uh Lloyd. Um I know we're in kind of a tight schedule here. We're gonna vote on this next uh Monday. Yeah, but uh is it possible? Do you think to get conditions um draft to them out in the next few days? Yes, I can do that. Okay.

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