Bedford Square developer David Waldman today took WestportNow and Randy Herbertson, the new president of the Downtown Merchants Association, on a hard hat tour inside and outside of the former Westport Weston YMCA headquarters. He said main tenant Anthropoligie will move in first with completion now scheduled for April of 2017. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com and WestportNow.com photos
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WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 4 Sharp Turn Road
An application for a permit to demolish the house at Westport’s 4 SharpTurn Road, off Whitney Street, is in process. Built in 1953, the 1-1/2 story cape has 1,118-square feet and is situated on a .4-acre property. Because the house was built more than 50 years ago, the application will be reviewed by the Westport Historic District Commission. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 76 Long Lots Road
An application for a permit to demolish the house at Westport’s 76 Long Lots Road is in process. Built in 1956, the 1-1/4 story cape has 2,349 -square feet, is situated on a 1.13-acre property and changed ownership last month for $660,000. Because the house was built more than 50 years ago, the application will be reviewed by the Westport Historic District Commission. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Westport Property Transfers June 20 -24, 2016
Westport property transfers as reported by the Town Clerk’s office for the period June 20 - 24, 2016:
Judith C. Cohen to Donald J. Dykas, 20 Strathmore Lane, Taxes paid in Norwalk, $229,000
Thomas Fino to Matthew J. Demblin, 44 Strathmore Lane, Taxes paid in Norwalk, $405,000
Tracey Crane Hennessy to Ryan A. and Teresa A. Gregory, 6 Greystone Farm Lane, $1,888,000
James M. and Sonia St. John to Michael Kos, 30 Hogan Trail, $769,000
At P&Z, Development’s Affordable Housing Reduction Debated
By James Lomuscio
Most who spoke at tonight’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) meeting agreed that the planned four-story, 94-unit rental property at 1177 Post Road East had its merits: the right location, access to transportation and sewer hookups.
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Land use attorney Chris Smith explains the new 8-30g proposal to the P&Z tonight. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
But the shortcoming with the new plan put forth by 1177 PRE Associates LLC at the behest of the P&Z since the last meeting was that the number of affordable housing units was decreased from 30 to 26.6 percent.
Members of the public who spoke, including state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member Matthew Mandell and Valerie Jacobs, co-chair of the preservation group Save Westport Now, argued that the plan needed to provide more income diversity.
More affordable units, they said, would also give the town more moratorium points to buy time against the state’s affordable housing statute, 8-30g.
Saying Nothing Has Changed, P&Z is Quick to Deny Saugatuck Developer
By James Lomuscio
The attorney for a local developer barely got a few lines out tonight before Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) denied a proposed 1,500-foot sewer line extension.
Carolanne Curry, who led opposition to the plan, at the P&Z meeting tonight before the vote. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The sewer line was developer Felix Charney’s needed first step to construct 155 rental housing units on Hiawatha Lane Extension in the Saugatuck section of town.
The reason for the denial by a vote of 5 to 0: nothing had changed since the last denial 18 months ago. The town’s infrastructure is simply unable to handle the additional flow at present, commissioners agreed.
At issue is the failing sewage pipe that runs from Pump No. 2 near the Black Duck restaurant to the town’s sewage treatment plant.
Honoring Our Heritage: 59 Center St.
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The owner of the house at 59 Center St. is the newest recipient of a Westport Historical Society (WHS) historical plaque. Bob Weingarten, WHS plaque historian, presented the plaque to Susan Lloyd who, with her husband John Karrel, purchased the house 30 years ago. The 1852-built house, known as the Silas B. Sherwood, Jr House, was built as a barn and then became known as the carriage house for 61 Center St., according to Weingarten. Lloyd, a member of the board of Westport Farmers’ Market, said, “I never in my life lived in a new building. I grew up in a 1910-built house in Southport and another old house on Imperial Avenue before buying this house.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
WestportNow Teardown of the Day: 6 Clifford Lane
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An application for a permit to demolish the house at Westport’s 6 Clifford Lane, off Old Hill Road, is in process. Built in 1944, the two-story colonial has 3,492-square feet and is situated on a two-acre property. Because the house was built more than 50 years ago, the application will be reviewed by the Westport Historic District Commission. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Old Saugatuck’s Last Neighborhood Fights for Future
By James Lomuscio
What’s at stake, to hear Carolanne Curry tell it, is the future of the last surviving neighborhood of old Saugatuck, the one not lost to 1-95 cutting a swath through this section of Westport in the 1950s.
A developer hopes to built a 155-unit housing complex on Saugatuck’s Hiawatha Lane Extension. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) File photo/Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
She describes the neighborhood of Hiawatha Lane Extension, where she lives, and the seven tucked away roads as “the most closely knit neighborhood in the Town of Westport.” They include Ferry Lane West, Indian Hill Road, Davenport Avenue, West End Avenue, Hiawatha Lane and Gillette Circle Drive.
“Everyone knows everyone like they have here for generations,” she says of the single-family home community once considered Westport’s unofficial Italian neighborhood. “We have picnics together. We look out for each other.”
And Thursday night, about two dozen members of Save Our Saugatuck (SOS), a neighborhood group, are expected look out for each other in force at a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) meeting.
Waldman Moving Ahead With Elm Street Plan
Westport developer David Waldman said today he is moving ahead with a plan to develop Elm Street next to his Bedford Square project.
Westport developer David Waldman addresses today’s Westport Rotary Club meeting. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Addressing the Westport Rotary Club, he also said he had been talking to “the players involved” and might be willing to revisit his plan to develop the former Save the Children building on Wilton Road. The project was turned down by a 4-3 vote earlier this year by the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission. (See WestportNow March 3, 2016)
Waldman said he intends to sign an option on Wednesday to purchase 36 Elm St., currently occupied by the Villa Del Sol Mexican restaurant and empty retail space.
In an informal presentation to the P&Z in February, Waldman received a mostly positive response to a plan to swap 36 Elm St., to be torn down, for part of the town-owned Baldwin parking lot across the street. (See WestportNow Feb. 25, 2016)
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