For months, the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck was one of the fiercest voices against the Hamlet at Saugatuck project. The grassroots group cited traffic, parking, density, changes to our “small town charm” — and many other reasons — as they urged town officials to reject the proposal.
Last month, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted 4-0, with 3 abstentions, against the Hamlet.
Within a few days, ROAN Ventures — the developer of the Hamlet residential/hotel/retail/event space project — announced an 8-30 development.
The plan includes 400 to 500 residential units, in the same general Saugatuck footprint as the Hamlet site. As an 8-30g, 30% would be deemed “affordable” under a state formula. Its name: The Alliance for Saugatuck Housing Opportunity.
The Westport Alliance for Saugatuck writes:
The tide has turned on Hamlet, and brought us other choices for Saugatuck.
ROAN has appealed the P&Z’s correct denial of its incomplete Hamlet application. We understand they may already be in negotiations with the town. And using the same threat used in 2022 to create the Saugatuck text amendment that increased zoning by 800%, exclusively for the properties they controlled.
In their Instagram and TikTok posts, ROAN attempts to blame the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck for their 100-foot high 8-30g project, even misappropriating our name to confuse residents. This is why we strongly felt the need to clear the air.
Artists’ rendering of ROAN Ventures’ 8-30g project.
The real Westport Alliance for Saugatuck is the voice of thousands of residents who are too smart for a blame game.
Six months ago, residents from every corner of town — parents, commuters, small-business owners — came together to oppose ROAN’s dense, urbanized Hamlet proposal. Concerns ranged from choking traffic and lost commuter parking to environmental and public safety risks.
From those meetings, the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck was born. We now represent over 5,000 residents — multi-partisan, multi-generational — united for smart Saugatuck development that strengthens Westport without sacrificing its character or safety.
The tide on this project has turned.
Each day brings new voices who have changed their thinking on the Hamlet project. Many were initially in favor, and believed ROAN would create something special.
From the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck website: ROAN Ventures’ original 2022 rendering, during their text amendment hearing …
Every day more stand up to express their disappointment and frustration at how this project morphed from the promised quaint New England coastal village to an oversized urban plan.
… and the same view from the Saugatuck River, in a 2025 view.
All along, many of Westport’s smartest minds gave ROAN advice, methods for compliance, and numerous ideas to make their project acceptable. They refused.
With time running out on public hearings, they were urged to withdraw and refile. Again, they refused.
It’s not an either/or choice.
ROAN wants you to believe it’s their way or their gulag. This is false.
An 8-30g project means 70% of residences will be market rate. No market rate buyer will buy or rent an apartment in a building that looks like a prison, or doesn’t have adequate parking.
ROAN knows this threat is hollow, and only meant to scare the town into giving them concessions.
Many residents ask whether we should negotiate with ROAN. Can we trust them to keep their word?
Westport is an extraordinary, wealthy and desirable place. Our town does not have to bend for any developer. We hold the cards. The Hamlet application was rightly denied for substantive reasons. The appeal will fail.
Unless ROAN is willing to make the same pivot smart Westporters have made, to listen to residents and answer their needs, there is no reason to negotiate. Westport deserves a smart, well-planned, development that fuels a bright future for Saugatuck.
A future with green space, riverfront access, housing (both affordable and market rate), retail and offices — without crippling traffic, parking shortages or safety hazards – all while making attractive returns for a developer and investors. But this takes an experienced developer who listens to residents.
The real Westport Alliance for Saugatuck will see this through to help create this bright future. Together, we stopped the Hamlet. Together, we can do it again, even with the inevitable Superior Court appeal.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to ensure the voice of the public is heard. We invite you to join us!
(“06880″‘s Opinion pages are open to all residents. Email submissions to 06880blog@gmail.com)
Can we get the names of the ROAN investors ?🇺🇸
A note of heartfelt appreciation to the real Westport Alliance. You calmly but effectively exposed the Hamlet for what it was. The squeegee men from ROAN really ought to do some soul searching. But they won’t.
Yes, empty threats just like the other 8-30g apartments that have popped up around town. I don’t like the tactics, but it is the law. Westport needs to have more affordable housing, plain & simple, and the lack of forward movement from our town has opened the wild, Wild West for developers to build without any say from the town. But yeah, we can all pat ourselfves on the back because we’ve surely heard the last of ROAN… 🙄
A very ill-informed statement. (1) 8-30(g) does not *require* that 70% of apartments be market rate and 30% be affordable. 70% is the *maximum* amount of market rate apartments to qualify under 8-30(g). The new building at the corner of Wilton Rd. and King’s Highway N., for instance, is an 8-30(g) project that’s 100% affordable. Which both shows how uninformed whoever wrote this press release is, and proves that 100% affordable housing can be built profitably in town. (2) The appeal is legally sound and likely to succeed, as a matter of law, whether you like it or not. Everyone on ZBA basically conceded the project meets the criteria.
This is coming from someone who’s neither strongly in favor of nor strongly against the Hamlet (though it’s certainly light-years better than the wasteland that’s there now). But these are same arguments we hear about every major project in town that everyone promptly forgets about once it’s built because the sky doesn’t in fact fall. The Wilton Rd. apartments are a great example.
I personally hate the oversized, ugly, cheap, white McMansions with black windows that low-grade developers like SIR are putting up on every open plot of land in town. Does that mean I get to dictate to SIR that the should build something with a modicum of taste? No. And I’m sure more than a few Alliance for Saugatuck members live in them…
I agree with all of this, except I have no opinion about the white McMansions. To each their own. But there are no “empty threats” here. The developers WILL win an 8-30g case. In any 8-30g development, there will be even less public input than there would have been with the prior proposal. Moreover, Westport is a desirable town and there would be plenty of buyers for the market rate units. I think the author might be a little out of touch with what younger generations are looking for in their dwellings. (not that I have my finger on the pulse, but I do much more so than the authors here)
It would be useful to know of Westporters who’ve opined on the (ex-)Hamlet whether they actually live on this side of the river, say, within a 1/2 mile of Westport’s “other downtown”. I do. I would hate to see Saugatuck left to its fate, out of sight & mind from those living much further east who might only drop by, say, on Slice o’ S. Day.
Here’s a timely question: Suppose you’re a Westport single-issue voter, and that issue is limiting residential densification. This November, should you vote D or R, for which local and state offices, and why?
Yesterday it took me 30 minutes to go half a mile from one side of the train station to the other. Can you only imagine what this is going to be like with Roans crap? The pictures say it all from a few years ago regarding what was originally proposed versus what they’re trying to shove down people’s throats now. Disgusting.
I’m wondering if traffic was any better when there was someone actually directing traffic. The lights do not seem to be properly timed at peak periods which likely adds to the backups. Was getting rid of the person directing traffic one of those clever “traffic quieting” moves?
On a related note, seems like some of the traffic issues are self inflicted. Last night around 6PM it took me 10 minutes to get from southbound exit 17 light to the light at Treadwell. Seemed like few, if any, cars were getting through that light with most of the northbound progress made thanks to cars turning left onto Sunrise.
When we finally got to the light, it became obvious what the problem was. Cars trying to go south on Riverside thought it appropriate to simply drive into the intersection and block traffic. Gridlock ensued.
The issue is the left onto Sunrise Road because you cannot continue up Saugatuck Ave and take a left onto Treadwell.
I moved into that neighborhood in 2000 and I remember being told that restriction was politically motivated because of some then well connected Treadwellian’s who didn’t want the cut through traffic.
Now houses on Sunrise Road sell for $3M. Go figure.
A simple fix would be to restrict left turns onto Sunrise, open the left turns onto Treadwell, and install a left turn only lane / signal at that intersection.
Last night, at least, the left turners onto Sunrise were the only thing that was keeping traffic flowing.
you are probably right. ferry lane was completely backed up all around to to the bridge. that is the route that i was stuck on, for 30 minutes. would pass right by the scamlet.
David, the no left turn onto treadwell is now gone. Perhaps someone who was elected didn’t like it.. but yes for years you could not make that left..
ohhh no longer.. nice a left turning car can hold up 10 behind it.
Go figure.
Yes it took me 30 minutes too. It was incredibly frustrating! No one seems to care about the imposition on people’s lives who live near by and any traffic study is complete bs. It literally can’t sustain what is there now, and ANY development will cause havoc. Really don’t see how anyone who doesn’t live near by has any say on what’s goin on in Saugatuck. Would love to see how people on long lots would feel if this future city was dropped in their neighborhood. Then there would be an about face for sure. Also, no one should be allowed to buy all of those properties and create a monopoly. It’s an awful thing to do. The town should have bought some of the land and developed it with westporters in mind. Not tourists.
Vote for Michele Paquette (R) and Michael Chaney (Westport Coalition) for Planning and Zoning. We need strong, pragmatic voices for development. They were instrumental in identifying areas for the denial of the Hamlet.
Congratulations to the Alliance. This was truly democracy in action. Hopefully squashing ROAN will not come back to bite those who adamantly opposed this project, thereby leaving Saugatuck in its present rundown state.
Below is a copy of my letter to P&Z Commissioners urging a rational approach that might have toned down ROAN and benefited Saugatuck, perhaps a win-win.
It’s easy to say No. It’s easy to say the opposition would not have cooperated but no one really knows what a more moderate approach might have achieved:
To: All P&Z Commissioners June 16, 2025
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The following are my personal comments on the Hamlet Project. I do not represent the views of any organization and conversely the comments submitted by any organization do not represent my position.
While I do not support the Hamlet submission as proposed, I do support the huge opportunity it represents and therefore urge the Commission not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Virtually every significant project proposed in Westport has initially caused a huge hue and cry: outrage, anger, wholly imagined repercussions. And yet, when these projects are finally implemented in one form or another, they are embraced as if there was never a controversy. The move of the “Y” from downtown, the Library, lights at Staples, outdoor dining, the development of the “left” bank of downtown, the list goes on. For all of the hand-wringing, all of these projects have been successful.
The Hamlet Project indeed appears overwhelming. But it also appears to be a huge opportunity that should not be summarily dismissed. It’s easy to say NO. It takes a great deal of effort, and in this case, worthwhile effort, to determine if anything is salvageable. It is not often that a whole section of our Town which is universally acknowledged to be run-down, has the opportunity to be rehabilitated.
I urge the P&Z not to merely dismiss this proposal but to signal the willingness of Westport to work with ROAN to determine the following: A) those most disagreeable components of the project that can be eliminated and/or modified B) those items dearest to Westport such as parking and housing that can be worked out and C) those items that constitute Westport’s wish list for the area that ROAN can incorporate into its plans. For this the Administration needs to dust off its Public Works issues and plans for the area. ROAN is sophisticated and recognizes the give and get of negotiations.
No matter what the outcome is of tonight’s meeting, the Commission should encourage efforts to seek common ground that will satisfy both the public and the developer, or other developers, for the benefit of a new revitalized Saugatuck.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Nayor
6 Robin Hill Road
Westport, CT 06880
Please remember they asked the Hamlet to withdraw and resubmit, that was asked of ROAN more than once, just for the reasons you describe. They have not yet publically said why they were unwilling except for the fact the were confident that their plan was complete according to the text amendment. To have an accepted proposal will 30 plus conditions was not considered wise by our commisioners. Why did the other commisioners abstain vs. voting? I don’t know the answer to that.
Agreed. ROAN had ample opportunity to resubmit and partner with the town. The Alliance and P&Z members who volunteer their time and work tirelessly to stave off ROAN’s army of high-priced consultants and attorneys all deserve our thanks.
Please read materials on the Westport Alliance for Saugatuck, and if possible, make a small donation to the cause: https://sites.google.com/view/westportallianceforsaugatuck/home
It is important to remember that ROAN doesn’t own properties in the Hamlet – they have options to purchase those properties. The author is correct, the tide has turned, and property owners and investors have new options to consider!
This was an incredibly well written and concise response to a very complex and contentious issue. There has been so much obfuscation and lack of transparency by developers and even members of our community. It is very refreshing to have clear words and timely insights to explain the situation and provide context. Westport has suffered from a lack of transparency or the appearance of a lack of transparency in many recent long term planning and governance issues. Regardless of your point of view, our town needs rational voices that are able to cooperate and communicate with: transparency, clarity and perspective while also seeking and respecting input from the silent majority. Unfortunately, Westport lacks an accessible option for community referendums on: large purchases, budgets and long term planning matters. Alliance for Saugatuck is a blue print for a permanent, grassroots community organization to act as a government advisory and balance to the loud majority.
Sorry, I made an error and said majority but I meant minority. Please update: Alliance for Saugatuck is a blue print for a permanent, grassroots community organization to act as a government advisory and balance to the loud MINORITY.
Just to clarify, an 8-30g project does indeed mean up to 70% of residences may be market rate. Of course, the entire project could be affordable housing. But unless ROAN can convince landowners to take a haircut on their purchase prices, ROAN would need the maximum amount of market rate residences to make the numbers work. The Saugatuck properties are not the Kings Highway property. And let’s not forget the market implications of 157 units coming online down the street on Hiawatha Lane. Unless something changes, still sounds like a pretty ambitious “affordable” project.
ROAN should sell the options it holds on the properties to Homes With Hope so they can do a 100% affordable development like they did on Kings Highway. And when the options expire (which I believe they shortly will) the town shoudl make a move to acquire the land. Perfect location for a great organization like HWH to build a project that the community can fully support. I would be very interested in supporting such an endeavor that would have a positive impact on the town. Initial and ongoing funding could be done through the town’s new affordable housing fund. It would be a great way to start.
Agree John, maybe we should build a cute “long lots” style “village school” down there.. so we can add a new school to accommodate the Haiwatha complex.
Interesting what might happen if the options expire soon (as you speculate) and ROAN loses the properties. If ultimately ROAN wins their appeal that their proposal met the approved zoning rules but can’t proceed because the options expired, I wonder if the town, P&Z and the P&Z members personally can be held liable, and therefore on the hook, for loss of ROAN’s potential profits. I mean, per Dan’s reporting anyway, the P&Z’s attorney told them that the rules had been met.
This could be interesting.