By James Lomuscio
The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) again tonight said no to Garden Homes Management’s proposed multi-unit, rental property at 122 Wilton Road.
The 1.16-acre parcel at 122 Wilton Road sits at the busy intersection of Kings Highway North and Wilton Road. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Even though the project had been scaled back from 48 to 19 units and shortened from 64 to 50 feet high, the P&Z cited similar environmental, traffic and fire safety concerns as it did when it denied the application on Feb. 4, 2016. (See WestportNow Feb. 4, 2016)
Tonight, the commission voted unanimously in a work session to deny text amendment 751 aimed at facilitating the project. It was followed by another unanimous vote denying the proposed site plan pursuant to the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g. The P&Z’s déjà vu denials appear to close a development plan that dates back to 2015.
That’s when Stamford-based when Garden Homes headed by Richard K. Freedman first proposed a complex of 48 rental units on the 1.16 acre property fronting the Saugatuck River and at the corner of the busy Wilton Road and Kings Highway North intersection.
The commission denied that application for similar concerns.
Following the denial, Freedman’s filed suit in Hartford Superior Court, citing 8-30g. The affordable housing statute allows a developer to override local zoning laws if a town does not have 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable, which Westport does not.
However, on May 27, 2017 Judge Marshall Berger dismissed Garden Homes’ 8-30g suit against the town, ruling that the town had acted properly. He said Fire Department access and safety were key reasons.
Then Fire Chief Andrew Kingsbury said that the town’s firefighters and other units would have difficulty gaining access to the upper stories, as well as being able to safely maneuver the trucks on the narrow sloping lot.
He and current Chief Robert Yost voiced similar worries after Garden Homes came back to the P&Z on Oct. 18, 2018, this time with a text amendment and a new site plan scaled back from 48 to 19 rental units.
The special permit and site plan application was first submitted in June. In it, Garden Homes offered two affordability options: 30 percent affordable and 60 percent “if certain conditions are met by the Planning and Zoning Commission and other town bodies.”
“We still do not have access to that (Wilton Road) side of the building with an aerial device,” Yost said to commissioners at it Nov. 15 meeting.
Tonight, the P&Z voted first to deny the text amendment, which commissioner Chip Stephens called “an abomination,” because it, while seemingly site specific, would affect other town locations.
Text amendment 751 asks to remove the existing “Maximum Allowable Multi-Family Dwellings,” replacing it with “Affordable Housing Developments,” modify the attic definition and add a new provision for “Design Standards for Off-Street Parking and Loading for Affordable Housing Developments.”
“They’re asking us to change our regulations, our town,” said Stephens. ”We are not required to do an amendment to do things that historically do not fit into this town’s nature, purpose and future.
“There’s no reason we should change our regulations to provide the further deterioration of this town,” he added.
When it came to denying the site plan in the AA residential zone, the P&Z said site did not provide adequate access for firefighters and would negatively affect “significant environmental resources” including the Saugatuck River and surrounding wetlands. They also cited traffic concerns at the troubled intersection and said that the project was not in keeping with the town Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).
