Two months ago, “06880” reported on a radical plan for redesigning downtown Westport.
According to the concept from the downtown subcommittee of the Town Plan Implementation Committee, the area could be revitalized by
- constructing small brownstone-scale buildings combining retail, commercial and residential uses;
- expanding the riverwalk from Gorham Island to the Levitt Pavilion;
- adding paid parking, and
- overhauling existing zoning regulations.
In ways big and small — partnering with private developers; creating a new town director position; moving dumpster locations and rejiggering garbage collection times — downtown could join the growing “greenfield” movement.
The psychic change would be as monumental as the physical one. Downtown would look and feel different. Traffic patterns would change; the mix of stores, and our ideas about commerce, would shift. We’d conceive of all of Westport in a different way.
First Selectman Gordon Joseloff backs the plan — or at least an intense conversation about it. “I think it’s time for the naysayers to take a back seat,” he says.
The next Town Plan Implementation Committee meeting is in 2 months. That’s the heart of the holiday season — the one time each year downtown is truly vibrant, swamped with shoppers and decorated nicely.
Between now and then, let the debate begin.
Will the downtown Westport of the future look anything like this?