Larry Weisman and his family moved to Westport in 1966. He brought his law practice here in 1979.
Larry Weisman
Concentrating on zoning law, he has represented the Gorham Island developer, the Gault Saugatuck project, the Westport Library, Aspetuck Town Trust, Compo Beach playground effort, the Westport Weston Family YMCA and many other significant projects.
He has watched the battle over the Hamlet at Saugatuck project with interest. He writes:
What if ROAN Ventures — the developers of the Hamlet — were to withdraw its application, with the understanding that it can be refiled at any time?
And what if the town of Westport — not the Planning & Zoning Commission — were to appoint a committee of knowledgeable and experienced real estate developers to discuss with ROAN a public/private partnership to develop Saugatuck?
And what if the town made a substantial contribution to the project — not necessarily in dollars only, but also by contributing in-kind services, and perhaps expansion of the project into adjacent town-owned sites? And what if that included redesigning the sea of asphalt which is now the railroad parking lot, to address parking concerns?
Part of Saugatuck today that ROAN Ventures hopes to develop. It would be part of a public/private partnership that Larry Weisman proposes.
I think the result of such an effort could produce a substantial amount of 8-30g residential units. They would be not in 8-story buildings, but perhaps in 3- or 4- story buildings around a central court, with the remainder of the property devoted to a judicious mix of commercial and office uses, with appropriate amenities on the river.
Traffic patterns and parking options could be explored more thoroughly with the participation of the town. Ancillary uses, such as a theater and hotel, could be better evaluated in terms of community need if public opinion were taken into account.
Uses designed to serve an expanded residential neighborhood, such as a pharmacy, hardware store and grocery, could be included in the mix to promote a sense of community.
In 2018, a Transit Oriented District plan envisioned redevelopment of Saugatuck.
A secondary effect would be a reduction in traffic.
Architectural style could be addressed more effectively. An eye toward creating a more community-friendly design and walkable streetscape would add to a sense of community.
It’s my guess that such a scheme has the potential to produce a win-win result. The developer and its investors would turn a reasonable profit, and the town and its citizens would have their say.
I think the end result is likely to be better and more acceptable to the citizenry for having participated than anything we’re likely to get from the P&Z through the prescribed process.
This is a bold proposal, to be sure. I recognize that there will be those who say that it would set a dangerous precedent for negotiated zoning, which would threaten the prerogatives and run counter to the statutory responsibilities of the P&Z and the conventional system of land use regulation, which contemplates measuring development proposals against a predetermined set of regulations.
But I think the redevelopment of Saugatuck is an issue of such magnitude and consequence to the community as a whole that it can be seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which is worth the risk.
All that’s lacking is leadership.
(“06880’s” Opinion pages are open to all. Please email submissions to 06880blog@gmail.com)
It’s am excellent idea. We should definitely pursue it. I’d love to help
Leadership is definitely the missing ingredient Larry.
Would you volunteer to lead the effort ? Recruit your own staff? With full decision power making power? And a substantial budget to hire and fire. 👍🏼🇺🇸
An excellent idea that, under current “leadership”, has absolutely no chance of being seriously entertained, no less implemented.
Hmmmm. I kinda like it. You can’t stop progress. Even the Roman Empire fell, but you can influence the direction. Make no mistake, there will be a day when that area bears no resemblance to what it is today. I grew up here so I wish lots of things never changed, but they have. This is a very compelling idea. It’s organizational Judo! The art of judo is to not meet a force with an equal and opposite force but take that force in the direction it is headed and just change the trajectory to the degree you can. Btw also as a 64 year old townie, my lament with all of this is that saugatuck, like other cherished parts of the westport of my youth like the playhouse, will just become another photo op part of town I don’t use because I will be able to afford it! Typed with my thumb on the train sorry for typos
Seems like a great idea. I would imagine there are two massive hurdles. Time and trust/certainty.
ROAN has a project ready to go presumably with resources ready to proceed immediately. A public/private partnership with all of the input that the good citizens of Westport will demand could easily take years, even decades, to bring to fruition. I mean, just look at downtown parking. Nothing but charette after charette.
Trust and certainty would probably be even more concerning to the developers. So they spend 5 years reaching a deal with the town. However, that is no guarantee that those that disagree with the whatever the public/private partnership comes up with won’t proceed to attempt to tie it up in the court system.
As I recall, the original Hiawatha Lane project was a joint development with the Westport Housing Authority. It was a great idea to help build more affordable housing. Look how that turned out. Lawsuits and years of delay only for that deal to be killed and developer has to restart as 8-30g.
Why would any developer ever trust Westport or the inevitable naysayers again? Why should they?
So, there is a Hamlet project ready to go in 30 days. It gets rejected. 8-30g is next on the agenda. Won’t need any charettes for that. Probably some lawsuits but I’m guessing there are shovels in the ground years before anything would come of a public/private partnership.
Perhaps a better idea that someone previously suggested is for Westport to simply buy out ROAN like it did with Longshore years ago and turn it over to the WHA.
Hi Larry and Dan- Great concept for Saugatuck! Small town preserved- not becoming another high rise city like Stamford or Bridgeport.
Even if only the 6, 7 or 8 story high buildings are not in the future plan’s mix this would be a great idea!!!!
Upon further reflection, there might be one way for Attorney Weisman’s suggestion to work and that is to reduce the uncertainty.
To do that, P&Z grants approval of the current proposal at its next meeting subject to an agreed 6 month cooling off period to negotiate outlines of a public/private partnership. At that point ROAN, at its sole discretion, can either extend the negotiating period to further flesh out that idea if it believes progress has been made or immediately commence the Hamlet project if it beleives inadequate progress has been made (e.g. due to excessive charettes and kibitzing from the usual suspects).
Further, if a final agreement on a new project is reached, the P&Z gets a yes/no vote and, if they vote “no”, ROAN has the approved Hamlet plan ready to go.
It could still take time, but at least ROAN has an end game in sight.
Some might say “How can we trust that ROAN won’t simply pull the trigger in 6 months?” Well, you can’t, which highlights why ROAN might similarly be leery about dropping its current an/or alternative 8-30g plan only to be caught up in a black hole of charettes.
I like the creative thinking and the “organizational judo” of this idea, but if I may inject a touch of cynicism, remember that in the end this whole thing is about money. And given that time is money, ROAN is going to have a hard time sitting down at contentious meetings for another x years. Therefore, if Westport simply can’t abide the Hamlet in any form, then I agree the town must buy ROAN out and start over. Now, where is *that* money?
Props to Larry!
Really thoughtful proposal. It is through discussion and compromise Westport will find an good answer to this issue.
BRAVO!!!
Larry Weisman for First Selectman! Or any other position of leadership he’d like.
WOW!!!
WOW!!! A brilliant idea! Westport – get on it!!!!
A public/private partnership is a great idea, but it’s not clear ROAN is the right partner.
The State is an important source of public funding for re-developing Saugatuck. As the largest land owner of commuter rail parking, the State has demonstrated a strong interest in helping Westport improve access to the rail station through giving Westport a $450K grant to create the Saugatuck Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Study (2019).
Few, if any of the public access recommendations are included in the Hamlet plan. For example, the TOD plan prioritized bike and pedestrian safety on Riverside Ave – a key access point to the train station – while ROAN envisions using Riverside for truck unloading zones for their proposed 160,000 SF of luxury hotel and retail establishments.
Other public funds include State’s conditional approval of $8 million in remediation funds for the project, but ROAN evidently was unwilling to comply with the grant’s conditions related to onsite affordability and environmental remediation.
Saugatuck is a perfect location for a successful public/private TOD redevelopment. The pieces are all there. Westport needs the right partner and the leadership to bring them together. If ROAN is willing to be that partner, that’s great. If not, it’s a pretty good bet that other developers would be interested in working with the Town to tap into available public funds for a project that better suits both Westport and the State’s interests in ensuring commuter rail access.
Sounds like a win/win/win for Roan, townspeople and Myrtle Ave. Fingers crossed that all appropriate parties lash back, “Yes, SIR!”
No offense but nice idea but a bit unrealistic at this stage. ROAN is ready to go and has options AND leverage, so why wait for what would undoubtedly be a super long highly opinionated process (see Long Lots school example which is peanuts compared to this)!! But that type of thinking is what the town could proactively pursue for future projects. Require vision, experience and expertise which aren’t easy to come by without private citizen volunteers.
Hamlet is a go!!!
I certainly think a grocery store, a pharmacy and a hardware store would be great additions to saugatuck.
We need a practical every day solution to the retail side of any viable plan that claims it is to serve westporters as opposed to being an elitist community created for the uber wealthy.
This is not Alys beach. And no westporter is buying the crap in “curated “ shops.
There should be a pragmatic plan which takes into account the need/not for more restaurants, and the parking burden which is so much more onerous with commercial vs homes/apts. 1 apt – 2 spaces, 1 store -100 spaces.
most of the ground floor spaces need to be apts and not “curated” shops and restaurants because they make parking sense.
While I absolutely respect Larry’s point of view, we must not be strong armed…
Bernheim is “slick”
Commuters must not be the sacrificial lambs here with a bypass system
These ideas would have been great a decade ago, even two decades ago. It’s too little too late now, this isn’t a new concept.
The Town can’t figure out what to do with a parking lot downtown, it would take another decade for an actionable plan. And there are way too many cooks in the kitchen these days, you know that saying about opinions and a certain body part?
Interesting comparison to Longshore. I can’t imagine that would have happened in the era of blogs and social media.
Larry’s excellent thinking begs responses from the present First Selectwoman, those who will be seeking the office and all other elected officials who support the concept. Certainly those names could include members of the RTM, members of the BoF, members of the BoE, members of the ZBA and all other citizens who have addressed important Town issues in the past, e.g. David Waldman, the Gault family, the Mitchells, Jonathan Steinberg and so many others. As to who should lead the project, any one in those categories of people I reference is a possibility. I ask that this proposal be considered and all the “important” people in our Town respond, hopefully favorably.
Attorney Weisman’s recommendation is spot-on. The only major redevelopment projects that have been known to flourish relied on
Dan – Please correct the caption to the map above. The map is from the March 2018 TOD study…. which is far more recent than “a couple of decades ago”.
Saugatuck TOD Plan – https://www.westportct.gov/government/appointed-boards-a-z/saugatuck-tod-master-plan-steering-committee#:~:text=The%20Master%20Plan%20sought%20to,town%20character%20and%20historical%20heritage.
Done. Thank you.
Wow! Possibilities. You don’t know if you don’t try.
A thoughtful solution by an intelligent, experienced ,caring and artistic gentleman. Mr. Weisman’s idea represents the best of what used, and hopefully will again represent Westport. Attention must be paid.
Bravo and thank you, Mr.Larry Weisman
Incorporating the amenities so sadly missing in Westport, such as a good small grocery store and a pharmacy could bring back the village feel of Saugatuck, and with the fire house so sadly neglected, wouldn’t it be a better place to build that new police/fire complex than the historically significant land in Greens Farms?