Revised Great Island Usage Parameters Approved By Darien Board of Selectmen

DARIEN, CT — The Darien Board of Selectmen last week unanimously approved revised usage parameters for Great Island to support a special permit application that would allow events and public access at the town-owned property.

In a memo sent to the Planning & Zoning Commission on Oct. 21, the Board of Selectmen said it is asking the Commission "to approve the proposed uses and principal operating limits, establishing the use basis for review of the parking project" for the island.

The proposed parking area would include 63 gravel spaces, six accessible asphalt spaces and 14 stabilized-lawn spaces, according to a Sept. 24 update from the Great Island Parking Design Committee cited in the memo.

Great Island is located within the R-1 residential zone. The Oct. 21 memo stated the town is proposing to follow the special permit approach used for Highland Farm, and cited two sections of the Darien Zoning regulations.

"This approach allows the Commission to review the proposed community uses within the existing zones," the memo stated.

The special permit includes several components, such as the site plan, construction and drainage work, which the Great Island Design Committee is working on.

"The one little piece we needed to provide input is on usage," First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky said during the Oct. 19 Board of Selectmen meeting, which is available to watch on demand on Darien TV.

"The reason for that is that for [Planning & Zoning] to approve the actual parking design, you can't just use parking as the purpose. Parking is what they call a 'secondary purpose.' They actually need to have a description or an annunciation of a primary purpose. That was the reason for us to come in and start to outline at a high level what the primary use or purpose of Great Island would be," Zagrodzky explained.

"Their job is to take that articulation, match it up against the proposed parking plans, and render an opinion on whether that feels right in terms of size and scope."

Future uses at Great Island could include hiking, walking, picnicking, guided nature and history tours, outdoor classes, civic gatherings, nonprofit events and private celebrations. The memo notes periodic events could include festivals and seasonal celebrations.

The selectmen revised the usage parameters to make them broader, and left open the ability to tighten them later on as part of the overall usage policy for the island.

Usage parameters approved by the selectmen for the special permit application allow ordinary public access and unregulated gatherings of fewer than 20 people from dawn to dusk.

"Small to mid-size" group events with 20 to 50 attendees would require a permit and could take place between dawn and midnight.

Large events with more than 50 attendees would also require a parking management plan.

All categories as proposed would be available seven days a week, year-round. "No limit" is listed under the frequency and attendance columns for unregulated gatherings, small-to-mid-size group events, and large events - a change made during the Oct. 19 meeting.

Events exceeding available on-island parking capacity would require approved off-site parking and shuttle arrangements, with attendance limited to what those arrangements and the site could safely accommodate, according to the Oct. 21 memo.

If ultimately approved by the Commission, the Board of Selectmen would then "adopt detailed operating guidelines addressing which activities to offer or permit, event eligibility, attendance, scheduling and administration," the memo states.

"Those guidelines could be revised as experience develops, provided they remain within the uses and limits approved by the Commission. Any change requiring modification of the Special Permit would be submitted to the Commission."

Organized events under the approval would begin after parking and associated access improvements are completed and open, currently forecast for the first quarter of 2028.

When the selectmen began discussions on usage parameters in early October, Zagrodzky stressed the board was not setting the policy for what kind of events will be allowed.

"This is just giving us a sandbox to play in, if you will," he said during the Oct. 5 Board of Selectmen meeting. "This set of decisions... by making the call on this, it will inform what the permit needs to have and then from there, we can decide how far to go with some of these limits."

Read the full memo to the Planning & Zoning Commission here.

The Oct. 19 Board of Selectmen meeting can be viewed on Darien TV.