Zoning is a hot button Westport issue.
Homes on the old Daybreak property off Main Street. 81 housing units on Post Road West. Medical marijuana dispensaries from Southport to Norwalk.
Now, there’s a hot button to click on.
The Planning & Zoning Commission has spent months figuring out how to alert more Westporters — in a more timely manner — about upcoming hearings.
The traditional — and state-mandated — methods are legal notices in newspapers, and snail mail sent to neighbors. A while ago, Westport added email alerts.
But legal notices are hard to find (besides, no one reads newspapers anymore); mail is not exactly a 21st-century tool, and few people know about the email option.
A typical legal notice.
So the P&Z added a button on the official town website home page. It links to each legal notice, with further links to all applications. No more clicking through multiple tabs to find P&Z, then searching for notices — or visiting Town Hall to review materials.
But the P&Z wants to do even more.
A subcommittee meeting this Tuesday (May 1, 12:30 p.m., Town Hall Room 201) will explore other ways to spread the word about upcoming meetings and issues. The public is invited to attend, and offer ideas.
Of course, not everyone can make it Town Hall on a Tuesday afternoon. Proposals for new communication methods can also be sent to pzdept@westportct.gov (put “Improving Public Notice” in the subject line).
The P&Z wants to hear especially from Westporters who feel they’ve been left out of the process in the past.
As Sy Syms used to say: “An educated consumer is our best customer”.
Not all don’t read newspapers so here is a shout out to all who do.
I have a suggestion for the committee: It would be a welcome change if the P&Z was actually required to investigate zoning complaints filed by the residents it serves. At present, those complaints can and often do vanish without a trace. No one deserves to be treated like that. What a difference some enhanced accountability in this area would make in terms of restoring public trust.
Thanks, Morley, for for that gentle, but most persuasive comment.
Often I have wanted to call attention to that misfeasance on the part of P&Z, but, always, I sounded so hostile it seemed dysfunctional.
agree an issue. haven’t received any notices for work done by next store neighbors…
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