By James Lomuscio
Another planned, multi-unit housing development that aims to skirt the town’s zoning regulations via the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g is in the works, its developers announced today. This time it’s at 1177 Post Road East.
Plans call for construction of a new four-story building in the existing parking lot adjacent to the current 1175 Post Road East office building. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The proposed 94-unit, four-story, 42,000-square-foot building proposed for the 1.96-acre parcel is planned as a green, adaptive reuse of a commercial office building for the local workforce, say principals of 1177 PRE Associates, LLC.
The announcement says plans have been submitted to both the Conservation and Planning and Zoning departments.
The development company is a joint venture of local real estate developers Phil Craft and Stephen Lawrence. They said that 30 percent of the studio, one-bedroom and two bedroom units would be listed as affordable.
This is the third 8-30g project in the works for Westport.
On Thursday night the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is scheduled to hear a pre-application from Summit Saugatuck to build 155 rental units on Hiawatha Lane near Exit 17 in Saugatuck.
More than a year ago Summit backed out of its plan to build 186 units there upon hearing the sewage pump station could not handle the capacity. Now Summit is back, reportedly ready to build its own pump station.
In a related matter, the attorney for Stamford-based Garden Homes Management Corporation last month filed an 8-30g appeal against the town in the Land Use Litigation Docket in Hartford.
The appeal came after the after the P&Z on Feb. 4 unanimously denied Garden Homes’ application to build at 122 Wilton Road a five-story, 48-unit rental housing complex, 30 percent of the units designated affordable.
The state law allows developers to override local zoning laws if a municipality does not have 10 percent of its housing stock qualified as affordable, which Westport does not.
According to 1177 PRE, the adaptive reuse project will include renovating the existing two-story commercial office building and creating a four-story addition over an existing parking area.
The announcement also says that the building is being designed and built as a “green project with LEED certification as its goal.”
Pitched as eco-friendly, the project, developers say it will have “a green roof system over the new addition, porous pavement in all outdoor parking areas, improved storm water drainage and treatment systems, enhanced landscaping and at least two electric vehicle charging stations.”
“Westport needs more affordable housing options for the people that make Westport work,” said Craft, pointing to municipal and school employees.
He also said the project would provide “transitional housing options for “younger workers, recent graduates, relocated workers, retirees and seniors, who want or need to be in Westport for work, families or lifestyle, but cannot afford or do not want single-family home ownership.”
“These people use few town services but contribute immensely to the community as workers, volunteers, customers, patrons and, in many cases, future home buyers,” Craft said.
“In a time when workers under 50 years old and retirees are leaving Connecticut in droves, we need communities like this to help keep these people in Westport.”
Lawrence said that despite setbacks other affordable housing proposals have had in town, he is confident this one will be well received since it focuses on workforce housing, offers a green component and in is keeping with the 2007 Town Plan of Conservation and Development.
Alicia Mozian, the town’s conservation director, said while the proposed project’s green emphasis is a plus, “We just have to make sure its FEMA compliant because it in the flood plain of Muddy Brook.”
She added that she expects the proposal to come before the Conservation Commission in June.
Mozian added that 1177 is not the only large scale project being considered for Post Road East.
Though not 8-30g projects, three others are being proposed along Route 1’s Inclusionary Housing Overlay District (IHOD).
She said that Coastal Construction is planning to build about 20 units at 785 Post Road East and a similar number at 1141 Post Road East, while another developer plans to build another 20 rental unit complex at 793 Post Road East.
According to the regulation, at least 20 percent of the units in an IHOD must be deemed affordable.
