Going Down: 21 Sylvan Road North

7 thoughts on “Going Down: 21 Sylvan Road North”

1. This teardown is a sad statement about what we as a community hold dear to us. What will it take to make teardowns the exception rather then the rule?

   New Canaan has changed the zoning to allow the owners/builders to save historic buildings and barns, allowing more coverage but keeping the quaint charm that draws people to stay and establish roots in their community. Westport has a history of drawing artists of all types to live and work here, but does it now?

   As I travel to many other parts of this country, homes are cherished for what they contribute to the streetscape, how they help define one town vs another. Admit it, you can tell which communities near us have strong zoning laws and which ones don’t. Westport is looking more and more like Stepfordville, each larger then life house occupied by the perfect Tapioca family. Soon you won’t know when you’ve left Norwalk or Fairfield, it will meld together like a continuous strip of characterless buildings not unlike an executive ghetto. Is this what we, as a community wish for?

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2. Esteemed Westport colleagues,
   If it’s your own property, and it’s been in your family for two-thirds of a century (and, yes, noting the New Canaan comment above), good luck getting any governing body to significantly restrict what you can do with your own digs.

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3. What happened to the town’s interest in acquiring this property?  17 acres off the Post Road might have made a feasible location for the Y and still had the structures intact for private or municipal use.

   Restrictions are not the best answer – incentives such as tax credits or relaxed rules governing additions and renovation of historic buildings are the way to encourage keeping our streetscape historic, charming and “quaint”.  Without this kind of change we will keep seeing teardowns and we will all keep writing the same types of comments about them!

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4. I had spoken with someone in town and found out that this beautiful home had been totally neglected for quite a few years.  The owners had stripped all the lovely mantles and moldings out from inside, and there was mold and deterioration everywhere.  That’s a sure way to make sure that when you do put a house on the market, no one who is willing to restore it will be interested!  Apparently it is nothing but a shell of the gracious home I visited in 1966 for a good friend’s wedding.  A real shame, and I too wish the Y had considered this location.  I believe it has 17 acres and it’s near public transportation and the Y says it needs only 10 acres.  But I guess it came too late.

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5. We live in a beautiful Victorian on Bridge St that twice in the past 3 decades was in such disrepair that today would share the same fate of destruction.  BUT because our family and 2 previous owners cared and preserved rather than destroying it , still exists and graces the town since 1865.  Agree restrictions or punishment will not work, but community and history have a value and need and you can not expect to do “anything you want” with your property if you own it, the reason we have zoning laws, albeit weak and beatable.  Lets think incentives, think out of the box,  and maybe we can solve historical preservation and the threat of condo clutter (excuse for “affordable” housing)

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6. This is absolutely ridiculous…I hope they do not build 12 separate McMansions on an acre a piece, but knowing this town, I’m sure that’s what will happen.  This teardown rivals the Phil Donahue one on Beachside.  What a shame.

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7. Next time you vote remember the people that did nothing but govern.  The selectmen who say “what can we do, we are bound by rules?”  or the congressmen who dwell on baseball while the economy, war and immigration are non issues.  I read yesterday Americans will put up with ANYTHING as long as it does not slow down traffic.  Don’t vote for change, don’t vote for a party, vote for someone that will DO SOMETHING !

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