By Dave Matlow
A property developer today informed town officials he has withdrawn from a project to demolish a 200-year-old house in Westport’s Old Hill area. The demolition application touched off intense criticism after being featured on WestportNow.
The 1810 house at 20 Woodside Ave. was featured as the WestportNow Teardown of the Day on Oct. 16. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
A letter from Robert M. Haroun of Sir Development, LLC, to the Westport Building Department came after the 1810 house on a .6-acre lot at 20 Woodside Ave. was featured as the WestportNow Teardown of the Day on Oct. 16.
In the letter, Haroun said “at the request of counsel for the owners,” he had assigned all interest in the demolition application and that “Sir Development, LLC has no further involvement in the project.”
The letter referred all inquiries to Rosamond A. Koether, an attorney at the Westport office of Cohen & Wolf. She confirmed to WestportNow that the assignment had been made to the owners, who she said was a trust. She declined further comment.
When contacted by telephone, Haroun declined comment.
The Westport Historic District Commission is scheduled to consider the demolition application at its Nov. 13 meeting. The HDC must review the application because the house is more than 60 years old. It can vote to delay demolition for 90 days.
Big thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Haroun! And David’s suggestions are good.
Did you see that in Fairfield the same questioning of candidates running for the RTM about their commitment to preserving historic properties in that town is happening? (In today’s CT Post) I hope a lot of people come out on November 13th to Town Hall to find out what can be done in Westport.
Did anyone find out if 45 comments is a record in WestportNow or not? It was a great discussion.
I’d like to add my thanks, also, to Mr and Mrs Haroun for gracefully bowing out of this project. I hope that either the house goes to a buyer/owner sensitive to its historical value or another developer who will work with with existing house. This house could really be a showcase for a creative way to save historic properties in Westport.
Would anybody be willing to ask the current owners if they are interested in pursuing local historic property designation? This would protect the house from demolition and require an owner/developer to obtain a “certificate of appropriateness” if they wanted to make changes to portions of the structure which are in the public view. The process is informative and rewarding…it’s also free.