By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

There was a flurry of activity at the Paul Rudolph-designed house at 16 Minute Man Hill this afternoon after reports came in to the Westport Building Department that wrecking crews were on site.
The Paul Rudolph-designed house at Westport’s 16 Minute Man Hill shows signs of structural damage today—a support pillar (r) was cracked—although the town has yet to issue a demolition permit. A wall at the edge of the driveway was also smashed. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

A demolition permit has not been issued by building officials, and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation will be seeking a temporary injunction on the demolition during a court hearing on Friday.

Workers were at the house around 4 p.m. with a small bulldozer, but an official with the crew who did not identify himself said the house was not going to be demolished today and would not be until no sooner than early next week.

Fire Inspector Nate Gibbons arrived at the scene at around 4 p.m. and later said an outside wall had been knocked down but no demolition work had been done to the house.

The Historic District Commission is considering making 88 Roseville Road a historic property. It was built in 1860. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Westport Historic District Commission is embarking on another study to move towards designating another property as historic under the town’s ordinance.

Town officials have hired Associated Cultural Resource Consultants to study the history of 88 Roseville Road in a step towards designating the property. It was built in 1860.

Earlier this month, the Representative Town Meeting approved the designation of 113 Cross Highway as a local historical property. In the last year, the RTM has also designated 99 Myrtle Avenue, which is owned by the town, as historical and created the Gorham Avenue and Violet Lane historic districts.

Morley Boyd, Historic District Commission, said the woman who owns the property is a senior citizen and plans to sell it soon.

Tuesday’s news conference announcing the sale of the downtown Westport Weston Family Y building included this architectural rendering of a new building on Church Lane that would replace the Weeks Pavilion which currently houses the swimming pool. The developers said their plans include residential units on a portion of the site. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

One of two architectural renderings of a proposed new building on Westport’s Church Lane unveiled at Tuesday’s news conference announcing sale of the Westport Weston Family Y building. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Experts and residents discussed affordable housing tonight at a Westport Town Hall meeting and many agreed that they know what is needed to garner support to move forward to erect such housing.
Floyd Lapp (l), executive director of the South Western Regional Planning Agency, responds to a question from Westport Planning and Zoning Commission member Davic Press (at podium) during tonight’s Town Hall meeting on affordable housing. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jennifer Connic for WestportNow.com

For almost three hours, experts suggested ways to provide more affordable housing and responded to audience questions and comments during what was billed as a “Citiizens Summit on Affordable Housing.”

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, who organized the meeting, said affordable housing is an issue of paramount concern.

“We need to constitute it in a manner that is in a good location and that is of a density that is good for the neighborhood,” he said.

By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Board of Selectmen tonight approved an extension of the town lease with Longshore Associates of Westport to run the Inn at Longshore, but the matter still needs Planning and Zoning Commission approval.

The extension lasts 10 years with an increase in the rent and there are two options to extend the lease by five years each, said Town Attorney Ira Bloom.

The Board of Finance approved the lease during its meeting last week (See WestportNow Dec. 6). The P&Z is scheduled to review the matter at its Dec. 21 hearing.

There are two years remaining on the current lease, so the new one does not start until 2009.