Controversial Rebuild By Sasco Hill and Post Roads Rejected

A controversial development that called for demolishing a vacant building by Post and Sasco Hill roads and replacing it with a two-story building for retail and office tenants was rejected Tuesday night by a town zoning commission.

"We have real traffic problems around this particular intersection, and an underground [parking] garage and banking window will only aggravate them," said Douglas Soutar, one of seven members of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission who voted against the proposed development.

Soutar said Sasco Hill Road already is busy with traffic from people going to Sasco Beach and the Country Club of Fairfield, as well as charitable events held in homes along the road.

Richard Jacobs, another commission member, said the development proposed by Torrey D. Brooks of Old Greenwich and B.V. Brooks of Jennie Lane in Westport required motorists who leave the half-acre property at 2307 Post Road and turn right onto Sasco Hill Road to enter a lane of oncoming traffic, which he said posed a blatant public health and safety problem.

Sally Parker, a commission member, said she parked her car in the lot one afternoon and wasn't able to exit onto Sasco Hill Road due to all the beach and lunch traffic. "Until someone was kind enough to stop and see my distress, I could not get out onto Sasco Hill Road," she said.

Parker said the 12,000-square-foot building also was too large for the lot and wasn't in harmony with the neighborhood, an opinion shared by several other commission members. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and, in this case, the building is definitely oversized for the piece of property," she said.

Bryan LeClerc, the commission's chairman, said, "It's just not going to fit safely."

Joel Z. Green, the attorney who represented the Sasco Hill Neighborhood Association, said he was pleased by the commission's 7-0 vote to deny the proposed development.

"We're pleased that the commission recognized the many issues presented by the application. Certainly, there were many problems with the proposal, and we appreciate the care and thought the commission put into considering the application," he said. "The Sasco Hill Neighborhood Association encourages the reasonable development of the site, but obviously there are challenges based on the comments of the commission."

William Fitzpatrick, the attorney who represented the developer, said he was disappointed by the vote and that he and his client will "assess our legal options and decide what we're going to do."

Commission member Matthew Wagner said he thinks everyone agrees "that this site badly needs to be developed, and everyone in town wants to see commercial activity at this intersection."

"However, I do not believe that the proposal as presented is in condition for approval by the commission...I believe that the proposed development is an overuse of this half-acre lot," Wagner said.