The Town of Westport has filed another 8-24 site plan for the new Long Lots Elementary School.
This one does not include a community garden.
That controversial element caused concern at last month’s Planning & Zoning Commission meeting.
Commissioners liked the plans presented. But the 8-24 (proposal for municipal land use) they were considering had been approved in January of 2024, with a relocated garden at an unspecified site on the 13 Hyde Lane property.
Town officials later decided to move the gardens to another, not-yet-determined location, off school grounds. Because the 8-24 still included a garden, P&Z members asked for a revised 8-24.
That was filed with the Planning & Zoning Department on Friday, and received today.
Most recent architectural plans, submitted to the Planning & Zoning Department.
The new “special permit & site plan” — applied for officially by 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker — calls for “construction of a new 127,945 sf elementary school, a 250 space parking lot, dedicated parent drop off and bus lanes, (2) multipurpose natural turf athletic fields, (2) playgrounds, a basketball court, a paved play area and all associated site and utility construction.”
The parking lot would increase from the current 196 spots.
The initial 8-24 plan — filed over 2 years ago — did not include the garden. It showed a baseball diamond where the garden had been located for 20 years, on the southern edge of the property.
The revised 8-24, submitted in January of 2024, had the garden back, but at an unspecified location. A multipurpose athletic field replaced the baseball diamond.
The Planning & Zoning Commission will discuss the new 8-24 site plan at an upcoming meeting. It has not yet been added to an agenda.
Meanwhile, the Long Lots School Building Committee meets tomorrow (Tuesday, May 20, 6 p.m., Town Hall Room 201/201A).
They’ll hear a project update, review plans with the design team, and hear public comment on agenda items.
Three views of the proposed Long Lots Elementary School.
Does the new plan include a garden? Cannot tell from map or plans. Glad to help lobby for a garden. The proposed garden off Imperial was a poorly thought out idea (hilly and shady). Feel free to share my name/email with any groups lobbying FOR preservation of garden.
Ms. Wolf
No the garden is gone.
Looks like the community gardens were, ’86’d.
I don’t want to cry wolf here, but couldn’t you sue and drag this out until the next election?
Citizens can petition the expenditure to a referendum.
No surprise here; just the same disregard for the gardens and the gardeners which has characterized the entire process. One can only hope that the P&Z will take into account the strong public sentiment in favor of a community garden in an appropriate location and, because an 8-24 request requires a simple up or down vote, will give a negative response to make it clear once and for all that attention must be paid to this otherwise irreplaceable community asset.
It’s a shame they couldn’t incorporate the garden into the school curriculum. No connection there?
I walked by there yesterday for the first time- it made me so sad. I wasn’t one of the Gardners there , but as a long-time self taught home gardener, I can’t imagine the heartbreak to lose it all.
The school needs to be the best school it can be for the kids (the future of Westport). The current school has two full size fields. Anything less than the two fields now proposed would be a loss of recreational opportunities on the eastern side of town. Fields are large, rectangular and flat, whereas gardens have more flexibility.
There are alternative possible places around town for locating a community garden(s) that do not conflict with the kids needs. In addition to the community spirit, and beauty the garden created, bees are critical to pollination, but they don’t mind if it happens at a school or elsewhere.
There are over twenty ballfields in Town and only one Community Garden that was located on property adjacent to the school property.
If the BOE and administration wanted the property they could have spoken up when the property acquired twenty years ago, instead of waiting and destroying the labor of local citizens who had created an award winning Town treasure.
“Conflicting with kids needs” is, IMHO, a lazy take.
Are you using ‘Ballfields’ to mean baseball/softball or fields in general? Looking at the baseball field at Long Lots school it has long since fallen into disrepair.
In my experience kids are playing more soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, Football, and Ultimate Frisbee . These require a lot of room. Fields need to ‘rest’ between playing, which is also a good reason to maintain the two fields the site has now. It’s better to have a little extra field space than too little, since it’s nearly impossible to acquire flat land after the new school is built. I’d heard the Westport soccer programs do not have enough field space for the number of kids who want to participate. It’s all education and leadership skills, right?
In Lower Merion, PA (where I moved from) the New Middle School fields became a very unfortunate fight where creative collaborative solutions and the kids’ needs went out the window. I’m proud Westport appears to have taken a position at Long Lots that favors the next generation’s mental + physical health.
Perhaps the very active gardening community should put on their creative hats. Look around Google Maps and come up with some proposals. There appear to be a number of good spots around town worth considering and then working collaboratively with the town leadership.
Double deck fields ascetically.
What about the mental and physical health of the gardeners who are also a part of the community?