By Jennifer Connic

The Westport Planning and Zoning Commission is planning to review the latest version of house size regulations during its work session on Thursday.

The commission held a hearing on the first proposal for regulations in March, and sent Glen Chalder, Planimetrics principal who is helping the commission write the regulations, to write new versions in March (See WestportNow March 22).

The originally proposed changes include revisions to the coverage and setback allowances in each residential zone.

P&Z Director Laurence Bradley said today the new version is in the office but not available to the public yet because the commission has yet to review them.

By Jennifer Connic

A survey of Westport residents shows one of the biggest issues on their mind is the size of homes in town.

The survey, which was released this week, was conducted as part of the update to the Town Plan of Conservation and Development by the Planning and Zoning Commission. A consultant issued the telephone survey to 400 Westport residents.

“Too many large houses” was listed as the third most important issue in Westport following high taxes and the education system. Of the improvements to the town’s quality of life, “limit house size” was the top issue.

Additionally, nearly 79 percent of those responding said town officials need “to do more to limit the size of residential houses,” and 74.4 percent said “Westport needs a choice of housing types.”

By Jennifer Connic

The Westport Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday night rejected a proposal that would allow developers to trade off including affordable housing by submitting payment to a town fund.

The commission discussed and voted on the proposal following a discussion on the multi-family housing cap (See WestportNow May 3), and it was not the only discussion on affordable housing Thursday night.

Eleanor Lowenstein, commission co-chairwoman, said the way to control multi-family housing is through zoning and where those housing projects are allowed, and she had concerns about the proposal because it would affect a large area.

“If we create more multi-family zones, there will be more multi-family housing,” she said. “We don’t have a plan.”

By Jennifer Connic

The Westport Planning and Zoning Commission is considering lifting its cap on multi-family housing units at least for affordable housing.

P&Z Director Laurence Bradley approached the commission about the cap during tonight’s session because the number of existing and approved units are close to the cap limit, which is 876 units per zoning regulation.

The number of units approved is 19 less than the cap limit, Bradley said, but 42 of those units have not been permitted and some of the projects that have not gotten permits were approved years ago.

Now there is an application calling for 22 units, he said, and the commission would have to deny it just because of the cap.