By James Lomuscio

Staring down the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g, Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) tonight approved a four-story, 94-unit rental property on the Post Road East near the Sherwood Island Connector by a 5 to 1 vote.

An architect’s rendering of the proposed project at 1177 Post Road East. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Even though all agreed a four-story structure was too high for the town—and even though the developer had offered an alternative three-story building—the majority in a work session opted for the taller proposal.

The reason: the original four-story proposal put forth by 1177 PRE Associates LLC would give the town more affordable housing units, 30 percent, and a four-year moratorium on how to handle 8-30g.

The town needed 37 points for a four-year moratorium and the approved project will generate 67.5. The additional 30.5 points will be “banked” toward the next four-year moratorium. 

A 1700s-built house at 21-25 Center St., the object of two letters to the editor two weeks ago by a developer and chair of the Historic District Commission (HDC), was demolished today. Developer Robert Haroun said he was unable to come to an agreement with the HDC to save the house. See Haroun’s letter here and the HDC response here (with a comment from Haroun.) (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By Judy Szablak

Contemporary-style homes continue to hold a solid place in Westport’s real estate market as well as throughout Fairfield County. In fact, they seem to more “in vogue” than they have been for quite some time.

Featured Home: This home at 12 Stonybrook Road is listed at $1,350,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of Coldwell Banker Westport Riverside

Currently, there are 49 homes available in Westport classified as being in this category.

Westport leads the 23 towns in Fairfield County in available inventory of contemporaries for sale, followed by Ridgefield (43), Stamford (41), Weston (37) and Norwalk (32).

However, just because we have a few more to choose from as opposed to other towns does not mean that this segment of the market isn’t as active as it should be. The market is certainly on par with the rest of the town.

By Judy Szablak

Available direct waterfront homes are really not aplenty in Westport. Currently, there are only 28 homes that fit that bill.

Featured Home This home at 7 Sandpiper Road is listed at $6,989,000. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo courtesy of Halstead Property/Westport.

Don’t let an initial look fool you into thinking there are more. If one performed a search using direct waterfront as their only parameter, 45 homes would be included, however this grouping also includes lakes, ponds, brooks, rivers and/or streams.

What it truly boils down to is that in fact, there aren’t that many to choose from at this time.

These 28 homes equate to less than 8 percent of all single-family homes for sale in Westport, which are marketed through our Multiple Listing Service, and have descriptions that include Long Island Sound, harbor, ocean or frontage. The average price of these waterfront homes is just under $5.6 million.