In the desperate days of COVID, outdoor dining popped up as a way to help restaurants survive.
What began as a temporary town measure has become a popular permanent feature.
It’s especially institutionalized on Church Lane. The road has been closed every year since 2020. Musicians play, and tables fill the short stretch between Elm Street and Post Road East.
Summertime, on Church Lane.
Not everyone eats up the idea. Some merchants and residents — including nearby neighbors — oppose it. They cite the length of the clousre (mid-May to late October), the spillover effect on downtown traffic, and the loss of 16 parking spots.
This year, before submitting a request to the Board of Selectwomen, the Westport Downtown Association surveyed stakeholders.
An online survey drew 2,204 responses.
Over 2,000 — 92.24% — agreed that the closure of Church Lane is a benefit to the town during the summer, and something they would like to continue.
Responses were closer about closing the street in summer 7 days a week (69.96%) or only Friday 8 a.m. to Monday 8 a.m. (30.04%).
Another question asked for preferences for closure: May 1 to Octoer 15 (74.18%) or Memorial Day to Labor Day (25.82%).
However, after considering issues like the weather, and patronage before and after the traditional start and end of summer holidays, the WDA will request street closing only from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The Board of Selectwomen will make the final decision, at an upcoming meeting.
(“06880” regularly covers town politics, restaurants and more. If you enjoy our hyper-local stories, please click here to support our work. Thank you!)
Live music livens up weekends. (Photo/Dan Woog)
All this darn hemming and hawing from the merchants about parking spaces. If it was up to the merchants, they’d turn half of downtown into a parking space. What we really need in this town is some way to get around that isn’t driving. Bike lanes, trolleys, *something* so I don’t feel like I’m going to get hit by a massive SUV walking down the street.
We do, i fact, already have “something”. The Westport Transit District’s door-to-door on-demand service can easily be extended from it’s current limits (to and from anywhere in Town and our two train stations between 5:45 am and 10:30 am and again between 4 pm and 9:30 pm) to include a stop downtown. Mid-day service can also be added. In fact, the service was extended for the four week-end days immediately preceding Christmas this past December and we hope to provide week-end service to downtown during special events such as the Art Fair this year as well. You an find information about Wheels2U at https://www.wheels2u.org/westport
Peter Gold
Director, Westport Transit District
Why ask if you’re going to ignore the answer?
Agree with you John H. The people have spoken, but the WDA decided to ignore the fact that 75% of the survey’s respondents want the extended time period.
What’s the point of the survey if it is ignored…?
People do like to walk, to greet friends, to talk, to sit and eat in fresh air and be traffic-free. It’s a pleasure. It’s community. Let’s not pave over everything from Jessup Green (whose idea was that?) and deprive those who live here or visit in order to make way for more vehicles. Of course, we don’t want people to exhaust themselves walking about 4 or 5 minutes to Main Street because it’s just too much of strain.
The idea to pave over jesup green was the selectwomans. Hers alone.
I’m surprised you don’t remember.
Nobody else thought that was a good idea. I don’t think anybody objects to a 4 or 5 minute walk. But people do object to a 15 minute walk, especially if part of the reason is the closure of a town road which adds hugely to the traffic and most importantly the parking burden.
Those who live here and visit need to drive to get here and park their cars, same goes for those who work here, just like teachers at a school. Cannot have a school without teachers, cannot have businesses without staff.
Nobody’s trying to attract more vehicles( since we cannot accommodate what we have already) but there has been a parking issue in this town since 1950 and before. It has become even worse with every passing year. Most especially because of the development of Bedford square, and the allowing of second floor retail, and the closure of church lane. And let’s not forget the redo of Baldwin which lost 50 spaces.
A little history lesson, it was the MERCHANTS, who paid to fill in the river behind the stores on what is now Parker Harding.
It was done explicitly for parking.
Had they not done that, there would still be a river lapping up on the shops there.
As for the survey, most people did not take it and cited the self serving way questions were posed in order to get the result they desired.
Many many residents think church Lane should NOT be closed at all EVER.
Of course that question was conveniently left out.
Typical.
Someone is drawing conclusions from (as many people pointed out at the time) a fundamentally flawed survey? You do you WDA.
Good point. That “survey” was really more of a push poll.
I am so disappointed in the posting of this information/ results and that the survey left off the question to open the street back to normal. another attempt at duping the public.
BOO!
Well I’m not going to bother voting in any more WDA polls, knowing that even if my opinion prevails by 74% in favor to 26% against, it is likely to be ignored.
Seems to me that the stated need for more parking is for folks wearing blinders…with Amazon available to more and more people, with more and more products with lower and lower prices, plus speedy delivery and no need to buy gas to get your needs, fewer and fewer parking spaces, not more, will be needed in our “downtown” and all other “downtowns” as well.
The problem with the survey: There was no choice to cast a vote against closing the street. It was geared toward how long to close the street, not whether to close it. Therefore, the very act of participating in the survey leads to 100% in favor of closing the street for some duration of time.
We have a great downtown venue for street musicians, kids romping, people gathering, even a few popup food trucks. It’s called Jesup Green, and there’s plenty of parking over there, and just a short two minute walk to downtown merchants.
When did car owners get the idea that they were entitled to a parking space and if one wasn’t immediately available, start melting down like a manbaby president? And for those that have recently learned to type, we don’t need another lecture from you about what the merchants did to fill in Parker Harding plaza. Bore. Ing. If you knew anything about this town, you might recall when Main Street was fully packed with merchants and customers AND, with unmetered two parking on main, nobody was bitching about a “parking shortage”. You simply rolled around PHP until a space opened up or, horror of horrors, came back later! WHAT!? GASP! What now, Batman?
How did we ever survive? Oh, the humanity!
Imagine delayed gratification, it’s easy if you try.
Speaking of the manbaby president, that was a despicable display he and his henchman put on today for Zalensky. Now, there’s your Trump deranged syndrome, full stop.
Attention needed in Aisle 7.
How does it feel to be “pardoned” after your 1/6 incarceration?
Dude you need to seek help, you’re embarrassing yourself in your former town.
Poor David. He can’t form a thought about the issues in town or about the president and his craven VP ambushing zalensky in service to Putin, so he resorts to taking a swipe at me. And I’m the one self embarrassing?
As I previously have written, Church Lane should be off limits to cars for most of the year. If the Police support a change for a few of the cold winter months, i.e. the issues of the administration of a temporary change, I could live with that. Finally, the issue of a shortage of parking is overblown, indeed, inaccurate.
And you think this why? For what reason.? Church lane is a road ! Why you’d say it should be closed defies any sense. Go to Arezzo. They have an outdoor patio they actually pay for.
Go to bar taco. So do they.
The police opinion is totally irrelevant ! They are not tax payers here. They work for us. As for your obsession with parking not being an issue.
Take your head out from the rock it’s under.
Parking has been a problem since BC in this town.
The downtown master plan of 2015 is an archaic and stupid plan. It is now irrelevant.
It was actually borne from landlords panicking cos their over priced rental spaces were empty..because they were price fixing.
It was borne to attract ppl to the town. But even then it never passed the sniff test.
we no longer have those issues.
now we are screwed because of parking yet again. Definitely no room for extra trees and grass in that immediate area.
Let’s get our head out from under the rock.
It’s 2025 not 2005/2015
Give me your rationale Don Bergmann.
“Parking has been a problem since BC in this town.” Yet, you opened a business and are now expanding it (and eliminating parking spots by doing so). Hmmm?
Sorry to weigh in late on this but I totally agree the survey was flawed. I took it and wondered where the rest of the questions were with more specific options. However, look for the upcoming agendas for the Board of Selectwomen’s meetings and attend that meeting if you want to share your thoughts and get others to do so. The agendas are not yet listed for the meetings on the 12th or 26th but it will be presumably discussed at one of those.