Everyone talks about historic preservation in Westport.
But — as homes and buildings as old as 200 years, and as new as 20, fall to the wrecking ball — what are our greatest protection needs?
The Westport Historic District Commission recently received a Historic Preservation Enhancement Grant from the State Historic Preservation Office.
Funds will be used to hire a consultant to prepare a town “Preservation Plan.” It will identify and prioritize the greatest areas of need for historic preservation.
The plan will also will help establish and prioritize more Local Historic Districts and Local Historic Designations.
Gorham Avenue is one of Westport’s Historic Districts.
According to Historic District Commission vice chair Grayson Braun, the HDC strives to “preserve and protect the distinctive characteristics of buildings and places significant in the history and development of Westport; maintain and improve the landscape and neighborhood settings of these buildings and places; and encourage design compatible with buildings extant in the area to continue to maintain Westport’s greater artistic, cultural, commercial and residential character which distinguish the town as a desirable community for permanent residents and visitors.”
Properties within a Local Historic District have a higher degree of protection. The HDC must approve an application for alteration to a historic structure, as well as any new construction within a district.
This should have been done years ago.
Meanwhile, in other local news, earlier this week, during a recorded public meeting, officials from the Town of Westport discussed the possibility of seizing and destroying every home in the Violet Lane Local Historic District to permit the construction of a massive, LA style concrete channel. The owners of the subject properties were not notified that the disposal of their homes would be discussed in the course of this meeting. Instead, they read about it in a press report the next day.
I agree with Morley and hope that the HDC provides their input into this discussion supporting the Violet Lane Local Historic District. An article appeared yesterday in the Westport Journal by Thane Grauel titled: Flood board hears no easy answers on Deadman Brook. Grauel provides statements and alternatives of the flood board meeting including the following from Ted Gill, an engineer with Town Department of Public Works, saying: To hold everything to a 100-year storm underneath Myrtle Avenue, he said, “We would end up with larger than a 25-foot channel north of Myrtle,” Gill said.
“We would basically need to need to either buy out all of the houses on Violet Lane and have them torn down.”
The full article can be found on: https://westportjournal.com/environment/flood-board-hears-no-easy-answers-on-deadman-brook/
Hopefully the HDC reads the article and takes action to make sure this alternative is not approved by the town and they attend subsequent Flood Board meetings with homeowners of Violet Lane.
Thanks for that, Bob. And thank you for your years of service on the HDC. At times like this I especially regret that the current HDC chair is so easily pushed around and othwise manipulated by town employees who have their own anti-presevation agendas. Paying people who don’t live here via a grant to tell us what to think about a given local issue is a cherished tradition in Westport. Unfortunately, no amount pork can deliver a clear-eyed leader with a stiff spine. You either have it or you don’t. Thus, Violet Lane is on its own. But that’s OK, we’re not burdened by a need for approval and cheerfully throw down whenever necessary.