There’s a new 8-30g application coming down the pike Post Road.
From all indications though, this one will face smooth sailing.
On Thursday (June 6, 7 p.m., Town Hall), an entity called 1480 PRE Associates goes before the Planning & Zoning Commission. They’ll ask for a special permit and site plan approval to build 32 housing units at 148o Post Road East.
They’ll be 1- and 2-bedrooms. Thirty percent will be affordable housing, as defined by Connecticut’s 8-30g statute.
The property — between the Rio Bravo/Julian’s Pizza strip mall, and a gas station — is a throwback to the days before the Post Road was greened and cleaned. Roger’s was there for decades; before that, it was Bob’s Welding.
There’s a little bit of music history too: Donna Summer shot an early music video there.
Roger’s Septic Tanks. The flowers in the foreground belonged to the gas station next door.
Several years ago, a private agreement was reached between the owner of the commercial site and homeowners on Cottage Lane — which runs behind — stipulating that no housing could be built on the property. The agreement did not involve the town.
However, word on the street Post Road is that homeowners have been consulted, and are on board with this project.
Something will eventually go in there. Sounds like neighbors are happier to have residents nearby, rather than another retail or office complex.
Less far along the P&Z pipeline — but perhaps more intriguing — is a pre-application that will also be heard on Thursday.
The agenda item reads:
To discuss amending the RORD #1 to allow Hotel Use for future redevelopment of 1 Burr Rd from Westport Rehabilitation Complex to “The Westport Hotel,” presented by Leonard M. Braman.
Will the Mediplex nursing home on Post Road West — next to Kings Highway Elementary School — be transformed into a hotel?
Stay tuned.
Westport Rehabilitation Complex’s Burr Street entrance.
Donna Summer, REO Speedwagon…Westport has some good music history.
Hello Dan .
The Donna Summers video was done at a different Bob’s Equipment location , just up the road from the Septic building .. I know this because I was in the Video .. I was hired to make Sparks using grinders and cutting torches … I remember that day like it was yesterday .. I’m still good friends of Bob E , who still owns Bobs Equipment .. His latest location is in Norwalk .. Yes the Septic location was once a welding shop that was owned by the 1st founder of Bobs Equipment … Bob E. Senior
Thanks — good to know!
I’ll miss the septic tank place. It added a certain funkiness to the area. NOTE: I use to live on Maple Avenue South, about a half mile down the road. Just wondering though — with all the new multi-family residential building going on, will they have to limit beach passes in the future?
“used to”
It appears that the East Post Road is the mecca for building 8-30 g, housing. I hope the Hunt Club and other venues are not effected. The “Funky” Septic manufacturer will certainly be missed. I remember driving by in my friends Austin Martin Vantage and his comments about that how that business looked out of place. Imagine it only took 12 years.
How many affordable units do we need to have, to hit that 10% mark? It doesn’t seem that these 8-30g projects do us much good in getting us to that mark, since they add many more market rate units to the overall pool of housing stock.
But I do think having projects along the Rt 1 corridor are more beneficial, being on the routes of public transportation, closer to services like grocery stores, and less likely to impact the character of neighborhoods with single family homes elsewhere.
Multi-Family housing must be on sewers. You generally don’t have sewers in single family neighborhoods — just septic systems.
The 10% mark will never be reached, because they build many more market rate units than affordable ones.
Obviously not a math major. When 30% of new units are “affordable” it does in fact move the overall mix closer to 10%. Also, very wrong about single family housing and sewers/septic. There are more than 4000 sewer connected homes in Westport.
How many years are the designated affordable units required to remain affordable?
I’ve always liked the honesty of this building with its textured precast blocks
( I suspect those were made just up the way at a cement block company where J&J Car Care is now) and steel casements. I think it was originally a part of the facility which made giant pumps for the navy. Assembly work started there and then the pumps were wheeled across the street (where that XXL men’s shop was recently) for final assembly. Or was it the other way around?
I spoke with my Dad this morning. He owns Bob’s Equipment. It was Sea Land Corporation before Rodgers. My grandfather worked there as a welder before he went into the service. They did in fact make stuff for the government during the war there. I’m hoping to sit down with my Dad soon and write all of the stuff he told me this morning down! So interesting!
Thanks, Marcella – sounds great. I hope you’ll share his stories with “06880.” And please thank your grandfather for his service too!
Thank you for that comment, Marcella. Like Dan – and I’m sure plenty of other naturally curious 06880 readers – I’d love to learn more about your grandfather’s work at this site. This is one of the problems with losing long established buildings to redevelopment – the stories and history embedded in them tend to vanish when they’re replaced. My thanks to you and your dad for caring enough to share a little bit of this building’s past and your family’s connection to it with us all!
I wonder what makes Elizabeth Thibault think that 8-30g projects on the Post Road East don’t affect the character of neighborhoods. Some of the largest neighborhoods in Westport are directly on that stretch of the Post Road–Lansdowne, Regents Park, and Harvest Commons. And while they are not typical detached single family homes, each of the units is a single family home to someone and all three communities are most definitely neighborhoods. Also, the proposed development at 20–26 Morningside Drive South, which was originally proposed as an 8-30g development, is just steps from the Post Road and is right in the middle of what Ms. Thibault thinks of as single family homes. The project which redeveloped the former Geiger’s site on the corner of the Post Road and Morningside Drive, which also has affordable housing, directly abuts the single family homes behind it as does the four story apartment building at 1177 Post Road East and as will the 100 bed assisted living facility going up between it and the old Geiger’s site. There is also the Hidden Brook/Sasco Creek affordable housing complex on the Post Road East directly across from Lansdowne which, I believe, are all single family homes that are affected by the continuing development of this stretch of the Post Road East. I’m sure the people who live there also think of it as a neighborhood.