Your P&Z is out to destroy Old Greenwich. Not destroy it completely, but transform it into an enclave of a few very expensive new homes for the very rich. Here’s a bit of what it’s after, summed up in this letter from the Shoreland’s President:
Good Afternoon Shorelanders:
Attached is the “Statement of Clarification on the Placement of Fill” dated May 1, 2013 from the Greenwich Department of Public Works.This is not what we had hoped for and, had written a letter to the Town Officials stating as such. This will certainly change the way Shorelands looks over the next several years. If you can, I suggest trying to dispute your VE classification with FEMA. A group of residents are already in the process.There is a house behind the Carter’s which has been raised to the 15′ mark. Please go take a look at it. That is what is going to be required. The gentlemen with the beard and hat is very informative. He told me that they are also using 25 Helianchors to keep the house in place.
And Mike Finkbeiner provides this from that same position letter of May 1.:
FEMA Zone A or AE along the coastline – The placement of fill should be minimized. A determinationshould be made to confirm no existing low spots exist on the parcel. If the proposed fill is to be placed withinan existing low spot, a drainage analysis will need to be completed to show that the fill within the low spothas not caused an increase in peak flow and runoff volume to a neighboring parcel or road. Also note,FEMA recommends the lowest finished floor of the building be placed two to three feet above thedesignated Base Flood Elevation.
Sound Beacher sends along these pictures of a house (Bernie Armstrong’s?) on Meadowbank being raised – your future down there.
For What It's Worth 
This won’t affect property values in the slightest. Folks in Riverside and OG don’t seem to mind train tracks and I-95 noise. They’ll happily deal with houses on stilts as long as they can send the kiddies to Riverside or OG School.
At $250,000 a pop to make an older house code compliant, we’ll see the values of existing buildings drop significantly to, I bet, the basic land value, period.
actually, why would a buyer risk buying in an area that could see further zoning issues in years to come or just unsightly stilts and lattice . I think what will happen is we price increases and bidding wars will become more subjective to houses not in FEMA included areas … which likely means those FEMA houses sell at discount at least to the houses that are ” dry ” .. as you further reduce acceptable housing stock in those desired districts in town .
Dont these homes now exceed the height limitations?
Yup, and P&Z is demanding the owners seek variances via the Board of Appeals. Add six-to-ten months further delay to your project, if you’re lucky.
At this point you need to post a pic of a pizza box of a house sitting on stilts with a long, ADA compliant, walk way decending down to the car.
I wish the homeowner whose house is being shown raised would write a guest post here on the process, cost, hidden costs, the A to Z’s.
If you add a front porch to a shore colonial, it doesn’t look so bad. But some of the stucco or stone houses, not so much…
slowly destroying a town with rules…
affordable housing will get a new look.
With stacking like that they can double the residents in OG!
What’s going on in the coastal neighborhoods of other towns like Darien, Westport, or Fairfield? A lot of low-lying neighborhoods there like OG.
They could landscape to cover up the part on stilts and no one would notice from the road. Wonder if the town allows landscaping.
Lattice work is used in Fairfield, but Fairfield has sensible people drafting and enforcing its rules.
Why is it then that houses are selling like hotcakes in Old Greenwich? A house just sold on Mortimer in a few weeks!!
The owner is a local architect in town.
I bet it will be stone on the bottom. The house was totally redone a few years ago and it is just beautiful. It deserves to be saved!!!!
I don’t know if Diane Fox will allow stone – cotton candy, perhaps.