BMW of Ridgefield’s new showroom building along Route 7 has been open about a year, and the dealership wants to buy the Ridgefield Tennis Club and use the area of its courts and bubble, behind and right, for parking. —Macklin Reid photo
Parking expansion plans by BMW of Ridgefield, including the eventual use of parts of the Ridgefield Tennis Club property for parking, are up for public comment next week.
The BMW dealership’s plans to buy the tennis facility and park cars there has stirred up a good deal of lamentation among tennis players and club members, as is evident in The Press’s letters column for the third week in row.
The plans will be discussed at a public hearing of the Planning and Zoning Commission next Tuesday, June 11, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the town hall annex.
The proposal is a revision of an earlier application. The first plan didn’t include the tennis club, which the BMW dealer has now contracted to purchase.
Town Planner Betty Brosius described the plans, which would need permits from the Inland Wetlands Board as well as the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“The original application proposed an expansion of the parking lot at the front of the property going to the south. They were trying to create another row of spaces going toward the wetland,” Ms. Brosius said.
“What they’re proposing to do in that location is remove some dry materials from the wetland area and create bigger wetland area in exchange for a bigger parking area.
“The previous application included some parking around the cell tower in the southeast corner of the lot. There’s a lease area they have to work around; they’ve reduced the disturbance in that area.
“Then, Phase II, they’d need to merge the BMW lot with what is now the tennis court property at the back,” she said.
“Their purpose is to use what is now the tennis courts and is covered by a bubble as a parking area.
“They’d remove the tennis court surface and expose the gravel base which is under the tennis court — it’s a compacted gravel base — and they’d use that for vehicle inventory storage.”
A lot of cars could fit there.
“The plan for using the bubble area shows that could hold 289 vehicles,” Ms. Brosius said. “It’s a fairly large area.”