Westport officials are planning to invest in restoring the Emily McLaury House, which is located on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Avery Place. The house would be rented to a municipal employee. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
By Jennifer Connic
Westport officials are seeking funds to renew a staff position to help preserve historical properties in the community as well as to restore an historical property owned by the town.
The Board of Finance last week approved adding a new staff position for the second half of the fiscal year for approximately $24,000 to assist the Historic District Commission. It also approved approximately $268,000 for the restoration of the Emily McLaury House, which is located at 99 Myrtle Ave.
Both items will head to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval in January.
First Selectman Gordon Joseloff said town officials have tried to sell the Emily McLaury House—which was designated as a local historical property in December 2005—four times, and it has become more expensive to fix.
“It’s highly visible,” he said of the red house on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Avery Place. “We need to take care of it, but we’re not going to try to recreate every detail.”
Joseloff said his plan is to make the house a spot for workforce housing for municipal employees.
The house was constructed around 1921 after Emily McLaury purchased it in 1920. Westport architect Charles E. Cutler, husband of McLaury’s cousin, designed the house. The town purchased the property in 1972 and has rented it out over the years.
The new staff person—who will work in the Planning and Zoning Department—will work with the Historic District Commission, including securing state and federal grants, which town officials said could amount as much as $400,000.
The position had once existed before late 2000 when the person who held it retired.
Morley Boyd, a Historic District Commission member, said the commission has struggled since the loss of the position and it has overwhelmed the Planning and Zoning Department staff.
The commission now oversees more historical districts properties and more people are interested in designations, he said.
With more districts and properties in its care, he said, more people are coming with questions and concerns.
Additionally, the town leads the state in the number of home teardowns per capita, Boyd said.
Joseloff said there is a large destruction of historical properties, and he hopes the new position would relieve the pressure to tear down.
Kevin Connolly, a finance board member, said he shares the frustration over teardowns, but it remains to be seen if a new staff position would prevent them.
“Teardowns may be inevitable,” he said. “They’ll just help shuffle the paper quicker.”
Additionally, he said, the proposal should be brought at budget time and not at the middle of the fiscal year.
R. Gavin Anderson, a finance board member, said times and things are changing in Westport and cited the affordable housing application in the Gorham Avenue Historic District as an example.
“Our heads would be in the sand not to approve this request,” he said.
Individuals and organizations wishing to preserve Westport’s historical properties should work to creat a Westport Historical Trust which would assist in creating a public and private partnership. Morley Boyd and the McLaury Committee put together a carefully krafted plan which includes donated time and perhaps construction material. However, town government itself has limited funds for this purpose. In my opinion it would have been more productive for the town to put seed money in a trust which would raise private funds to support projects like the McLaury project.
I voted against the staff position which will cost the town approximately $100,000 per year (including benefits) in perpetuity because I do not believe in increasing unbudgeted headcount during the year except in the case of emergencies. I believe that the First Selectman should have found the head count and funds to cover the expenses within the town budget and proposed the increased headcount and expenses in next year’s budget. This position was eliminated by the former First Selectwoman in 2000.
Charlie Haberstroh
Board of Finance