DARIEN – Buyers of Thorndal Circle Office Park want to demolish five existing office buildings and replace them with 175 apartments. But first they have to assure town officials and neighbors that the redevelopment will not add to the area’s flooding problems.
TC NE Metro Development Inc, also known as Trammell Crow Company, is currently under contract to purchase the 11-acre commercial property behind Nielsen’s Florist.
The project requires a number of local and state reviews and approvals, starting with Darien’s Environmental Protection Commission which is tasked with evaluating the environmental impacts of the proposed housing development.
The Thorndal Circle Office Park is situated in the Stony Brook watershed, an area of about 4.1 square miles that captures water from various sources and funnels it into Stony Brook. The stream meanders from New Canaan through residential neighborhoods, forested areas, and wetlands before emptying into Goodwives River, which eventually leads into Long Island Sound. The area surrounding Stony Brook has experienced frequent and severe flooding in the past two decades.
At the first public hearing on the project this week, members of the EPC and neighbors raised questions about how the project’s net increase in impervious surfaces and plans for tree removal would affect the area’s already high risk for flooding.
Generations of Darien resident William Frate’s family have owned property near the proposed redevelopment area. While complimenting Trammell Crow for their efforts to address the issue, Frate emphasized the area’s history of flooding and how past construction has tripled the width of Stony Brook from the 4-foot-wide stream of his childhood.
“There’s been dramatic erosion…It’s upstream development. In my lifetime we’ve gone to 92% development in Darien and every time a house goes up, the downstream water flow increases. It’s problematic without a clear solution at this point,” Frate said.
A team of experts from SLR Consulting, a sustainability consultancy firm hired by the development company, emphasized that the project’s modern stormwater management systems of catch basins and permeable pavers would be a significant improvement from the office park’s current 1970s-era features. SLR engineer Tom Daley told the commission that, as a result of the firm’s comprehensive flood mitigation plan, the redevelopment of the office complex will not cause any rise in flood heights or severity.
“I will be the first to admit that we are not going to make Stony Brook better… it’s a big watershed. We’re a fairly small drop in the bucket. But we have an obligation to this commission and the town in understanding that flooding is a concern here. [We’ve] got to come out of the gate with a really robust plan. So that’s what we did,” Daley said.
Attorney Jason Klein, who is representing Trammell Crow in the approval process, said the redevelopment will have an overall positive impact on environmental resources in the area.
“Not only is this project a development opportunity that’s done in a sustainable manner and an environmentally sensitive manner but it’s at the same time helping the town of Darien to achieve its housing related goals in a property that is already developed, a property that’s more appropriate for development than probably other parts of town,” Klein said. “This is the right place to do a project like this and we’re doing it in a really environmentally professional manner.”
Jerry Nielsen, of Nielsen’s Florist and the current owner of Thorndal Circle Office Park, spoke at this week’s public hearing and expressed his support for the redevelopment of the property from commercial to residential use.
“I’m still going to be a neighbor and we really want and are excited about the project going forward,” he said.
The public hearing on the 175-unit housing development is scheduled to continue at EPC’s next meeting on Jun. 5.
In addition to the greenlight from EPC, the project requires approval by the Planning & Zoning Commission to rezone the property. If the zoning change is approved, the application then will be reviewed by the town’s Architectural Review Board, followed by another submission to the Planning & Zoning Commission for site plan and special permit approval.
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The hearing is available streaming on Darien TV79 here