By James Lomuscio
The attorney for a local developer barely got a few lines out tonight before Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) denied a proposed 1,500-foot sewer line extension.
Carolanne Curry, who led opposition to the plan, at the P&Z meeting tonight before the vote. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The sewer line was developer Felix Charney’s needed first step to construct 155 rental housing units on Hiawatha Lane Extension in the Saugatuck section of town.
The reason for the denial by a vote of 5 to 0: nothing had changed since the last denial 18 months ago. The town’s infrastructure is simply unable to handle the additional flow at present, commissioners agreed.
At issue is the failing sewage pipe that runs from Pump No. 2 near the Black Duck restaurant to the town’s sewage treatment plant.
Public Works Director Stephen Edwards said it would take between two to four years, including designs and permits, to replace the pipe.
“It was 18 months ago that I was here cautioning this body of the pipe from Pump 2 to the sewage treatment plant,” Edwards said.
“In this condition now, we cannot approve additional flows for that pump station,” he added, saying there were a lot of unknowns.
Tim Hollister, a land use attorney representing Charney, said the reason for his presentation, which was cut short, was that his client “would like to do the planning” for the sewer sewer extension for when the pipe is replaced.
David Lessing, P&Z vice chairman, said while he appreciated planning, “this is not the time,” and that any presentation would be better made during “a reasonable time of certainty” about the pipe’s replacement.
The P&Z seemed dead set from the outset against the application from Summit Saugatuck, LLC, Charney’s company for the project. The 8-24 proposal was for a sanitary sewer main line extension from Davenport Avenue to Hiawatha Lane.
“I say that this application be denied immediately,” Chip Stephens, former P&Z chairman, said that the hearing’s opening. ” …Nothing has changed. I don’t know why we should be here.”
Upon town counsel advice, the P&Z continued to ask Hollister what had changed since the last denial. After Hollister spoke only a few lines, P&Z Chairwoman Catherine Walsh agreed with Stephens, saying nothing had changed.
“I don’t know why we’re here either,” she said.
This is the fifth time since 2005 Charney has proposed a multi-family housing development in the area that has been described as the last neighborhood of old Saugatuck, the one that was not razed when I-95 cut a swath through this area of town in the 1950s.
Charney’s last bid was in 2014, when he sought to use the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g. It was defeated in early 2015.
Prior to the meeting, Hollister had said a lot had changed since the last application, most notably that 8-30g is not part of this application, nor will 8-30g be used in the future.
The 8-30g statute has been the bane of local officials because it allows a developer override local zoning laws if a town does not have 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable, which Westport does not.
“The ultimate application will not be submitted under 8-30g,” Hollister had said.
But none of that was touched upon tonight, nor did it it seem relevant, as the P&Z kept its focus on the sewer extension request, an overwhelmed pump station and a failing sewage pipe under the town’s signature river now used mainly for recreation.
Carolanne Curry, a resident of the area who coordinated opposition to the application through the Save Our Saugatuck group, was ecstatic with the decision.
“There will be no 155 apartments in Old Saugatuck!,” she emailed supporters after the vote. “The P and Z voted it down!”
Curry is an alternate member of the P&Z and did not participate in review of the application.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the vote to 5 to 0; the earlier 4 to 0 with 1 abstention was a “straw” vote
