Charter panel adds Planning and Zoning to council oversight list

Other Committee · Meeting of April 14, 2026

New Canaan's Charter Revision Commission voted 9-2 to require Town Council confirmation of Planning and Zoning Commission appointments, reversing an earlier 5-6 defeat of the same language without that addition. The commission, working toward a May 4 draft report deadline, also voted unanimously to require the Board of Selectmen to fill appointed vacancies within 180 days and dropped a proposed recall/removal provision for elected officials after legal counsel said state law offers no clear mechanism for it. A decade-old requirement that Board of Finance members own real property in town remains unresolved after members split over whether renters have enough "skin in the game," with one member citing the town's roughly $8.7 billion grand list.

At a public hearing, Town Council member Kim Norton warned that weakening the Parking Commission's review role would be "easier for future decisions to bypass proper review," citing a merchant letter over new downtown parking meters signed by roughly 25 businesses.

In the full story:

• The complete report — 982 words

Source: the Other Committee meeting of April 14, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

The Full Article

NEW CANAAN — April 14, 2026 — The Charter Revision Commission voted 9-2 Tuesday to require Town Council confirmation of Planning and Zoning Commission appointments, a late addition to a broader package of appointment-process changes headed into the commission's draft report to the council.

The vote came during a marathon two-part session that included an afternoon work meeting, a 5 p.m. public hearing, and an evening return to unfinished business. The commission's draft report, now in its ninth version, is due to the Town Council by May 4. A parallel motion earlier in the day to adopt the same appointment-process language without adding Planning and Zoning failed, 5-6.

The Full Story

The commission spent much of the afternoon walking through its 300-plus-page draft charter report article by article, ahead of a statutory clock that gives the Town Council up to 45 days to hold a public hearing on the report and 15 more days to act, a schedule the commission's chair said could push final action into September if the council uses the full window. The commission has held more than 54 meetings since starting its review, the chair said, and is working from the same newsprint-format template used in the last charter revision a decade ago.

Much of the afternoon centered on Article 3, governing how the Board of Selectmen fills vacant appointed seats. Commission member Russ moved language requiring all board and commission vacancies to be posted publicly with an online application process; that motion, without Planning and Zoning added to the list of appointments subject to Town Council confirmation, failed 5-6. A follow-up motion from commission member Bill Peret, adding Planning and Zoning to the confirmation list alongside the Board of Finance, Ethics Board and Audit Board, passed 9-2. Members later voted unanimously to require the Board of Selectmen to fill any appointed vacancy within 180 days, after members said a past board had allowed a commission's seats to sit vacant long enough to threaten its ability to meet.

The commission also debated at length, without resolving, whether to strip the decade-old requirement that Board of Finance members own real property in New Canaan. One member, Chris, argued the town's roughly $8.7 billion grand list should be protected by people with "skin in the game," while other members countered that renters pay taxes indirectly through rent and deserve a voice. The chair noted the same question went to referendum 10 years ago and lost by roughly 68 percent. The vote was tabled pending a fuller board and was not revisited before adjournment.

Legal counsel, identified in the meeting only as Nick, advised the commission that state law provides no clear mechanism to recall or remove an elected town official for misconduct, unlike the process that already exists for appointed positions. After extended debate, members agreed not to pursue recall or removal language for elected officials, with the chair directing counsel to drop the item from further drafting.

At the public hearing, several Town Council members urged the commission to preserve, not soften, the Parking Commission's existing multi-step review authority over changes like the metered parking recently added downtown, which has drawn a letter of complaint signed by roughly 25 Elm and Main street merchants.

"That is exactly why the parking commission's duties must remain robust. The commission is not just advisory in spirit. It is a safeguard." — Kim Norton, Town Council member

Christina Ross, also a Town Council member, urged the commission to spell out reporting lines between the town's legislative, executive and quasi-judicial bodies to avoid a repeat of the parking confusion.

"It's not by design. It's really human error where nobody really knew where it starts and where it ends." — Christina Ross, Town Council member

Sarah Pierce, a resident, argued the commission should more directly address the Planning and Zoning Commission's power to rewrite zoning regulations without a Town Council vote. Maria Nort, a Town Council member and former Board of Education member, asked the commission to require an annual Board of Education compliance certificate, citing a recent Freedom of Information ruling against the district and undisclosed staff hires outside the approved budget.

Why It Matters

The charter is rewritten only once a decade, so the choices the commission finalizes over the coming weeks will govern how New Canaan appoints board and commission members, oversees land-use decisions, and handles a vacant elected office until the mid-2030s. The Planning and Zoning vote gives the Town Council a formal check it does not currently have over the town's most powerful land-use body. The unresolved Board of Finance residency question and the parking-commission dispute both remain live and will shape the report's next draft, version 10, expected this week, ahead of the May 4 submission deadline.

Key Motions & Votes

- Vote: Approve minutes of March 26, March 31, April 1 and April 6 meetings Tally: Approved unanimously

- Vote: Appointment-process language for boards and commissions, without Planning and Zoning added to Town Council confirmation list Tally: For: 5, Against: 6, Total: 11

- Vote: Amended appointment-process language adding Planning and Zoning Commission to the Town Council confirmation list (with Board of Finance, Ethics Board and Audit Board) Tally: For: 9, Against: 2, Total: 11

• Action: Motion to consider making the Inland Wetlands Commission an elected body — Withdrawn, to be revisited during Article 10 review

- Vote: Require the Board of Selectmen to fill any appointed vacancy within 180 days Tally: Approved unanimously

- Vote: Strike proposed 30-day filing requirement for elected-office vacancies (Article 3, Section C3-5) Tally: Approved unanimously

• Action: Recall/removal-from-office provision for elected officials — Dropped from further drafting after legal review
• Action: Requirement that Board of Finance members own real property in town — Tabled, no vote taken

Source

Town Of New Canaan: Charter Revision Commission meeting, April 14, 2026