The weather this week has suddenly turned cool. But tonight’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting could presage hot times to come.
“Hot” as in “turning Westport into a hot spot.”
Or “hot” as in “people are outraged.”
This evening at Town Hall (7 p.m.), the P&Z considers “text amendment 637.” The bureaucratic-sounding term is a proposal for a “Theater Overlay Zone.”
That‘s policy-talk for a new zoning concept. It would remove setback and height restrictions, permitting buildings up to 6 stories in downtown Westport.
It would also increase the square footage of certain commercial buildings, from the current 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet.
Any new theater downtown will not look like the old Fine Arts (now Restoration Hardware).
A driving force behind the proposal is the desire for a movie theater downtown. The amendment would not require additional parking if the theater is located within 500 feet of a municipal parking lot with at least 3 spaces. Parker Harding Plaza, the Baldwin lot (behind Williams-Sonoma) and the Imperial Avenue lot all qualify.
The text amendment pleases Westporters who say a movie theater would revitalize downtown.
It displeases Westporters — including some circulating a petition against it — who say a 6-story building would destroy that same downtown.
So far, the text amendment/zoning issue has not gotten much press.
After tonight — no matter what the weather outside — Westport’s political temperature will rise.