By James Lomuscio
While Westport officials and some neighbors say three houses are better than 19 condominiums on Morningside Drive, Art Scholler takes a more jaundiced view.
“It’s originally what they wanted, and it’s come full circle,” said Scholler, president of the Greens Farms Association. “The developer used 8-30g as a bargaining tactic.”
An agreement between the town and the developer Morningside Drive Homes LLC, also doing business as Greens Farms Developers LLC, was formally approved in Stamford Superior Court on May 22.
It put to rest a two-year battle heightened by the developer suing the town under the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g.
The developer is the same one who constructed the nearby 94-unit rental complex in accordance with 8-30g at 1177 Post Road East and named Greens Farms 1177.
The developer’s lawsuit filed July 24, 2018 stems from the P&Z’s denial of its application for a three-lot subdivision of 2.37 acres at 26 Morningside Drive South in a half-acre, Residential A zone.
The proposal called to raze a historic, mid-19th century farmhouse, the former home of well-known Westport artists Naiad and Walter Einsel. In its place, the developer had applied to construct five buildings comprising 19, later downsized to 16, three-bedroom condominiums.
“It’s done,” said Town Attorney Ira Bloom about the agreement reached on the 2.37-acre property, which includes a1853-built farm house and an artist’s studio, all of it across from the Greens Farms Elementary School.
“We reached a settlement of all cases that were pending,” Bloom added about the case agreed to by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Historic District Commission.
Under the agreement, the 8-30g suit is gone, the developer gets to build three-architecturally compatible houses or two lots, 20 and 26 Morningside Drive.
Two houses would be constructed at 26 Morningside where the historic farmhouse would remain and be preserved, and next to it the artist’s studio would be relocated, Bloom said.
One house would be constructed on 20 Morningside Drive, which sits closer to Post Road East.
“The architecture has been determined, and the houses will look like they are compatible with the existing old houses in the area,” Bloom said. “The driveway is in a certain spot, and the open meadow is in front, which was important to the historic district, and that is being preserved.”
In addition to the Greens Farms Association, another neighborhood group Greens Farms United had been fighting the development.
“The association is saddened by the outcome,” Scholler said. “The original intent of the Einsels was to preserve it for what we had hoped would be historic open space.”
He said the developer had originally planned three to four houses, which the developer got using the threat of 8-30g.
“They came in with the scorched earth proposal, a very motivated developer,” Scholler.
He said that the property was unique in that it is its own historic district, and that when the Einsels’ children sold the parcel to the developer, it continued as a historic district.
He described the agreement as a compromise in which one party walks away unhappy.
“The historic farmhouse stays; we’ll consider that a victory,” Scholler said. “But, the historic open space is gone.”
Bloom, along with other town officials and neighbors, however, viewed the agreement with a sigh of relief.
“I think this was a good settlement for the town,” Bloom said. “We worked with the neighbors. They were involved in the discussions, and they were very helpful. I think they were relieved with this.”
