Eight months after the RTM voted 33-1 to uphold a Planning & Zoning Commission decision to allow new development in Saugatuck, preparations for The Hamlet are moving along.
The developers are leaving nothing to chance.
This month, architects and others from DPZ — a firm specializing in pedestrian-oriented neighborhood planning — came to Westport, from offices in Washington, Miami, Portland and Puerto Rico, to see Saugatuck first-hand.
And to listen.
Working in the Riverside Avenue office of ROAN Venture, they invited town officials and others to a charrette, to view plans and offer feedback. The goal is to hear concerns about traffic, zoning, the marina and other elements while the process is still in the design phase.
Conversations result in changes “in real time,” said DPZ partner Marina Khoury.
Renderings of waterside elements of The Hamlet at Saugatuck.
The first official on Monday was Conservation Department director Colin Kelly. He offered insights into Westport’s Waterway Protection Line Ordinance, setbacks, seawalls, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and more.
Representatives from the Police Department, Selectwoman’s office and others were invited this week too.
Some attendees criticized the proposal when it was announced last year. “We want input from everyone,” says Pete Romano, whose LandTech environmental engineering firm is working with ROAN Ventures, DPZ and noted architect Bill Bensley on the project.
DPZ’s Marina Khoury and LandTech’s Pete Romano, with The Hamlet at Saugatuck drawings in ROAN Ventures’ office.
The Hamlet at Saugatuck encompasses the rectangle between Riverside Avenue, Railroad Place, Franklin Street and Charles Street, plus land on Riverside Avenue from Tutti’s to Railroad Place, and the private parking lot above Luciano Park now used for boat storage.
Plans include retail, restaurants, residences, a hotel, marina, a gourmet market and kids’ club near Luciano Park, a boardwalk, underground parking — and a total renovation of the 21 Charles Street office building.
Artist’s rendering of the re-skinning of 21 Charles Street …
… and the view from the Saugatuck River.
(“06880” broke the story of The Hamlet at Saugatuck last year. If you appreciate local journalism, please click here to upport our work. Thank you!)
Over the years, several people have suggested Anna Rycenga as an Unsung Hero.
Andrew Colabella was the most recent. He offered this great — and well-deserved — praise:
On a November Saturday, members of the Westport Police Department, Westport Police Athletic League and Sunrise Rotary headed to Stop & Shop with a mission: to help stock the Homes with Hope and Westport Human Services food pantries.
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., hundreds of Westporters dropped off bags of non-perishable items, either before or after they entered the store.
Many people helped collect the food: RTM moderator and former Homes with Hope CEO Jeff Wieser; current CEO Helen McAlinden; PAL president Craig Bergamo; Police Chief Foti Koskinas and Deputy Chief Sam Arciola; officers Dominique Carr, Scott Thompson and Wong Won; Push Against Cancer CEO Andy Berman, and Selectwomen Jen Tooker and Andrea Moore.
Anna Rycenga and fellow volunteers, delivering food to the Gillespie Center. Andrew Colablle is behind her; to the left is Police Chief Foti Koskinas.
But of everyone there, perhaps the hardest worker was Anna Rycenga. This was the 10th year that the mother of 3, and former chair of the Conservation Commission, had hosted a food drive.
She also organized annual toy drives for the both the Westport Police and State Police Troop G (where her brother is an officer), and coat drives too.
Anna Rycenga
Anna — a Bridgeport native — has worked tirelessly to serve her community and beyond. She grew up in a small apartment above a tiny bodega, on 746 Park Street. Her heart is still there.
She and her brother were raised by a single, loving, hardworking mother. Officers from the State Police barracks down the street checked up on them, offering any help they needed.
Anna never forgot where she came from, and who helped her. She has paid it forward ever since.
In addition to her work here, Anna has collected food for Bridgeport Rescue Mission, serving 8,000 families during Thanksgiving. She also spent 6 years gathering books for the Bridgeport Lighthouse Program, plus service to the Shoreline Diaper Drive, Center for Family Justice, and a prom dress and suit drive for young men and women.
Anna Rycenga (right) and friend, surrounded by donated food she helped collect.
When she is not helping people across the state and giving back, Anna was a part-time consultant to an attorney specializing in environmental law.
This winter Pete Romano, founder of LandTech, recognized her skill and bountiful knowledge about land use, planning and conservation, and hired her.
She is doing what she loves, professionally and as a volunteer. Congratulations and thank you, Anna: our “06880” Unsung Hero.
(Do you know an Unsung Hero? Email 06880blog@gmail.com)
(Unsung Hero is a weekly “06880” feature. To support our work, please click here. Thank you!)
More than a dozen residents gathered in the driveway of a Hiawatha Lane Extension home. Representatives of the development, site planning and construction companies involved in the 157-unit housing complex that will soon be built there had invited neighbors. The goal was to explain the building process, and listen to concerns.
Some of the concerns had been aired already. Residents are worried about trucks navigating the narrow roads; safety of children; noise; drainage and runoff.
Hiawatha neighbors listen intently.
Gus Pappajohn, president and CEO of A. Pappajohn Company, the Norwalk-based builders; Pete Romano, principal of LandTech, the Saugatuck civil engineering firm, and David Walsh of Summit Development explained the timetable — demolition of several homes will begin in 2 weeks, and last approximately 2 years — and described how they’ll handle issues like parking, school buses and culverts.
Other concerns have been aired earlier, throughout the nearly 20 years since a smaller development was first proposed. They involve traffic on nearby Saugatuck Avenue, and the displacement of residents from one of the least expensive neighborhoods in Westport.
Pappajohn, Romano and Walsh noted that those issues were already adjudicated. The town of Westport settled with Summit after years of litigation, allowing the development to proceed.
A rendering of the development, on an easel yesterday. (Photos/Dan Woog)
Several neighbors said angrily that they had not had a chance to air those concerns during the approval process. Construction officials replied that as an 8-30g application — one that addresses affordable housing in towns that do not meet a state minimum — issues like traffic are not part of the discussion.
“It’s been a long and contentious process,” Romano acknowledged. “But we’re here to talk about the future, not the past.”
For nearly an hour, residents peppered the builder, engineer and developer with questions about the future. And the past.
They looked at architectural plans and renderings of the 3 buildings. They asked again. Pappajohn, Romano and Walsh repeated their promises to keep disruption as minimal as possible; to be available at all times, and to continue to keep the neighbors informed throughout construction.
And then — with the sun and their anger still hot — the meeting ended. The neighbors walked home, past several now-empty homes and a new chain link fence.
Plans for the 3 new buildings. (Hover over or click to enlarge.)
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A decade ago, the Saugatuck Center project brought new stores, restaurants and apartments to the banks of the river. It also brought new life and vibrancy to one of the oldest neighborhoods in town.
An even more ambitious and innovative plan may now do the same, a few yards south.
“The Hamlet at Saugatuck” reimagines the relationship of the river and railroad to the area. Designed to feel like an extension of the community, it’s envisioned as an economic engine for residents and visitors; a gateway to the rest of the town, and a chance to build something inexplicably missing everywhere else in Westport: a hotel.
A view from the Saugatuck River. These buildings would be on Riverside Avenue, from Railroad Place (left) to Charles Street (right). The railroad tracks are on the left.
Invested in and spearheaded by area residents – including Westport-based ROAN Ventures and Pete Romano’s LandTech environmental engineering firm, with world-renowned architect Bill Bensley – the project is making its way through the long approval process.
Yesterday, ROAN submitted an application to amend the text of Planning & Zoning Department regulations, creating a new zone called General Business District/Saugatuck Marina.
Plans encompass the rectangle between Riverside Avenue, Railroad Place, Franklin Street and Charles Street, plus land on Riverside Avenue from Tutti’s to Railroad Place, and the private parking lot above Luciano Park now used for boat storage.
A gourmet market would be built on land that is now a private parking lot. This is the view from Luciano Park.
It would not include the Black Duck, the office building on Riverside Avenue in front of All Seasons Marina, or Railroad Place between Steam Coffee and the alley by the train station. Current Railroad Place tenants will remain, and The Hamlet aims to help those local businesses thrive.
But what it will include is quite exciting:
A boutique hotel with approximately 55 rooms, 35 condo-type residences, pools, and underground parking.
New shops and restaurants, featuring local artisans.
Gardens, space to stroll and socialize, fire pits in the winter – and a spa.
The boutique hotel, including condo-type residences, and ground-floor shops.
A year-round gourmet market on the now-private railroad parking lot, with local vendors (think New York’s Eataly, but with an area twist).
A marina with at least 22 slips, giving the community safe and enjoyable access to the waterfront.
Water taxis taking guests to Longshore, Compo Beach and downtown.
Another view, with the railroad on the left, the I-95 bridge on the right.
A boardwalk along the river, similar to Bartaco’s, with the goal of Connecticut Saugatuck and Westport via waterway.
Re-skinning and beautification of the 21 Charles Street office building. Bringing it more in line with local architecture and aesthetics.
Affordable housing would also be included.
The Hamlet is envisioned as a place where year-round visitors – including those arriving by rail – would stay, play, shop and dine, then use as a base as they explore the rest of Westport.
ROAN also plans to implement cultural, wellness and family-focused programming, designed for the community at large.
There is plenty of work to be done. The current dry cleaners, near what was once a car dealership, needs heavy remediation. ROAN is ready to do that.
Redevelopment of this area has been discussed for years. This winter, state legislators considered a bill to designate areas near train stations for dense development. It stalled in committee, but similar proposals are expected again.
It took several years, and two stages, for the Saugatuck Center project to be completed a decade ago. The Hamlet is in the early stages of the permitting process. ROAN is targeting a 2026 opening.
So it’s too early to book a hotel room, or a water taxi ride.
But it sounds like it will be well worth the wait.
“The show must go on” is a time-honored tradition. On Friday night, Drew Angus honored it well.
The Staples High School graduate, recording artist and all-around good guy was booked for the Levitt Pavilion. Right before showtime, a hard rain fell.
But Drew — standing behind his band’s covered instruments — gave a fantastic performance.
Most of the crowd was far in back, under the overhang. A few hardy folks sat on the grass. But it didn’t take long for many to get up and dance. It was an amazing scene. (It didn’t hurt that one of his numbers was “Singin’ in the Rain.”)
Carleigh Welsh announced that Drew will be booked for another performance this summer. Hopefully he knows “We’ll Sing in the Sunshine.” (Hat tip: Laura Schwartz)
Drew Angus, singing in the rain. (Photo/Laura Schwartz)
For decades, kids jumped off the Sherwood Mill Pond bridge.
When the water got grotty, they stopped.
The pond is back in great shape. Several years ago, the jumpers returned.
Last summer, some of them were loud and rude. They ruined it for everyone. Residents complained. Parks & Rec put up a “Danger/No Jumping or Diving” sign, complete with little red-slash pictographs.
Yesterday, Ann Becker Moore, Pam Washburn and Karen Como spotted a new sign. It says simply: “Jump.”
(Photo/Karen Como)
WTF?!
If anyone knows what’s going on, click “Comments” below.
Last night, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Eastern Conference finals. They advance to the championship for the first time since 1974 (when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the starting center).
The Westport connection? The Bucks are co-owned by Westport hedge fund manager Marc Lasry. PS: They were named the Bucks long before the billionaire bought them. (Hat tip: Fred Cantor)
Conversion of the former Armstrong Rubber Company headquarters in New Haven — the concrete box on the left as you head north, next to Ikea and just before the I-91 merge — into what may be the most energy-efficient hotel in the country has “Westport” all over it.
Hotel Marcel’s developer and architect is Westport-based Bruce Becker. He’s building it to meet net-zero energy standards. It will generate as much energy as it uses. All electricity is produced on site, and it’s the first passive house-certified hotel in the US.
Saugatuck’s LANDTECH is the project’s site/civil engineer.
It’s a great project. To learn more, click on the video below. (Hat tip: Peter Gold)
Posted onJune 9, 2021|Comments Off on Y Project Earns State Honors
Building the “new” Westport Weston Family YMCA at the Mahackeno campus was an enormous undertaking.
Countless public hearings — and nearly 2 dozen lawsuits — delayed planning, groundbreaking and construction for years.
LANDTECH — the Westport-based civil engineering, site planning, project design, environmental and construction management firm — was there every step of the way. They worked with Robert A.M. Stern Architects and many others, completing the finished product — finally — in 2014.
Except it wasn’t finished. Phase 2 — 22,000 more square feet, including a gymnastics center and enhanced exercise, wellness and healthcare studios, along with a redesign and renovation of the adjacent Mahackeno Outdoor Center — opened last year. Once again, there were challenges (like a global pandemic).
The Westport Weston Family YMCA’s Phase 2 project added a gymnastics center, and several studios.
But there were no lawsuits. The project came in under budget, and ahead of deadline.
Now the Y’s Phase 2 has been named Best Large Civic Project in the entire state.
The award comes from the Connecticut Building Congress, an association spanning every important trade group in the state.
“We worked with neighbors on the site plans and landscaping,” says LANDTECH principal (and Saugatuck native) Pete Romano. “There were no lawsuits at all. The process went very smoothly.”
LANDTECH’s role was broad. They collaborated with SLAM Architects and permitting groups like Conservation and Planning & Zoning, and closed out the project for a certificate of occupancy. Getting Mahackeno open last summer — when so many other camps were closed — was crucial for many youngsters and their families.
The Mahackeno Outdoor Center pool.
“It was a group effort at a trying time,” Romano notes. “Town Hall offices were not open. People were working from home. But in the end, everyone rowed in the same direction.”
The CBC award honors every group that had a hand in the Y’s Phase 2, from the excavators and pavers to the pool and plate glass folks. Turner Construction — the firm that built Phase 1 — was involved again too.
One of the unintended consequences of COVID is a rise in the number of new swimming pools. All over town, construction is underway.
All over town — except in areas of town with lots that, according to zoning regulations, are undersized or non-conforming. Many of those properties are in areas like Saugatuck Shores and Compo Beach.
For years, architects and land use experts — including Pete Romano, the principal at LANDTECH, the Westport-based engineering and planning firm — have gone to the Zoning Board of Appeals requesting variances. This Thursday (May 6, Zoom), the Planning & Zoning Commission will consider a text amendment to address that issue.
Text amendment 793 would modify the swimming pool definition to exclude swimming pools of a certain size from total coverage calculations, in all zoning districts.
It would also exclude “sports courts” (private basketball and pickleball courts, etc.) of a certain size from total coverage calculations.
There would be size limits: 850 square feet for pools, and up to 40′ x 40′ for sports courts. Non-conforming lots would still be required to adhere to building and conservation setbacks, and fulfill all drainage requirements.
A Westport summer scene.
Romano has represented many homeowners who have sought variances. He says the text amendment would reduce the number of land-use approvals required to construct a pool.
He notes a current regulatory quirk: A homeowner right now can construct a patio 35 inches high, right up to all building setbacks, and fill the entire lot, setback to setback. It would not count toward total coverage calculations; that only applies to patios at least 36 inches above the ground.
However, Romano says, “once you punch a hole in the patio and pour water in it, it counts towards total coverage.”
Many town officials seem to be in favor of the text amendments. So are most realtors.
Thursday’s meeting will be livestreamed at www.westportct.gov, and shown on Optimum channel 79 and Frontier channel 6020. Public comments can be sent to PandZ@westportct.gov by noon Thursday. To comment in real time during the meeting, email maryyoung@westportct.gov by noon on Thursday; include your name, address and “agenda item 5.” Click here and scroll down for the full text amendment.
The Residence at Westport — our first assisted living community — opened last summer, opposite Greens Farms Elementary School.
A second one is planned for the opposite side of town.
Maplewood Senior Living has proposed a 3-story facility for the former Dragone Classic Motorworks site, diagonally across from Kings Highway Elementary.
Site plan for the proposed assisted living facility. Post Road East is on the right; Kings Highway North and Ludlow Street are on the left.
The property has a long history with automobiles. It was for many years the home of the Small Car Company — for a while, the most successful Volkswagen dealer in the US. In 2018 it was rezoned to allow an electric car dealership (rumored to be Tesla).
The current tenant is Carvana, a used car dealer that sells entirely online. Nearby buildings include retail and residences, with 8 apartments.
The former Dragone property, and its neighbor, on Post Road West.
Maplewood’s corporate headquarters are on Gorham Island, off Parker Harding Plaza. They operate 15 senior living communities in 5 states. Other Connecticut locations include Southport, East Norwalk, Newtown, Darien, Bethel, Danbury and Orange.
Plans call 95 units: 49 for assisted living, 46 for memory and full care. Two of the assisted living units will be designated as affordable. The facility will be called Maplewood at Westport.
Artists’ rendering of Maplewood at Westport.
Because part of the property lies within the Kings Highway North Local Historic District, Maplewood and Landtech — the Saugatuck-based engineering and environmental firm — have worked with neighbors, and Westport’s Historic District Commission, since June.
Two “historic residences” — over 50 years old — will be preserved.
One house at 174 Post Road West will be relocated to 38 Kings Highway North.
The existing home at 38 Kings Highway North, with a rendering of the home that will be relocated from 174 Post Road West.
Another, at #172, will be moved slightly, and designated as affordable.
The new location of the house at 172 Post Road West.
Maplewood’s building will be tucked into the hill. Only the roof will be visible from Kings Highway. Landscaping and vegetation will be added to the site, and on some private property.
All contaminated soil — the legacy of decades as a car dealership — will be removed.
The proposal goes before the Flood & Erosion Control Board in March, with the Conservation Commission to follow. The target date for opening is late summer or early fall of 2022.
As Westporters — and all Americans — bite their nails, hold their breath and say a prayer that their candidate will win tonight, here’s a reminder that we are all in this together.
LandTech principal Pete Romano put this sign outside his Saugatuck office this morning. Amen!
(Photo/Jeff Seaver)
In a similar vein, Amanda Doyle sends along her 8-year-old daughter Niamh’s homework for today.
Even if that Glass House is a National Historic Landmark.
The Glass House was architect Philip Johnson’s personal residence. Built in 1948 in New Canaan, it’s part of an estate that includes other innovative buildings he designed, all connected by beautiful manicured walkways.
Each property — the Brick House, the Studio, Da Monsta, the Painting Gallery, Pavilion in the Pond and the Sculpture Gallery — is a work of art, and features remarkable collections of paintings and sculptures. The site draws thousands of visitors a year.
Philip Johnson’s Glass House …
But even world-renowned architects design houses that, over time, develop structural or environmental problems.
The National Trust for Historical Preservation — owner of the famed property — chose Landtech to identify and remedy the conditions impacting each of the buildings.
The Saugatuck-based engineering firm is investigating drainage problems that have long plagued the Brick House, which includes Johnson’s private sleeping quarters, study and gallery space.
Groundwater levels have impacted the structure, creating moisture and mold. Conditions became so severe that the gallery is unusable.
… and The Brick House.
As they work to correct drainage and mold issues, Landtech engineers have an additional challenge: respecting the historical integrity of the Glass House and Brick House, and the spectacular property they sit on.
As anyone who has seen their Westport work knows, they’re up to the task. They’ll work through early spring, ensuring that the busy summer event schedule will go on as planned.
And that one of Connecticut’s top tourist attractions will continue to delight visitors and architectural enthusiasts for decades to come.
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