Town officials and residents have been laser-focused on 2 zoning issues: HB 5002, and plans for the Hamlet at Saugatuck retail/residential/and more project, or a 500-unit 8-30g housing complex there.
Both the omnibus housing bill and large-scale development would impact Westport, everywhere from traffic and density to taxes and moratorium points.
Meanwhile — far from the spotlight — quiet but steady progress is being made on affordable and below-market housing.
And it’s happening all over town.
On Monday (June 23, 6 p.m., Zoom), the Planning & Zoning Commission will hear a pre-application for the property at 455 Post Road East.
For decades, the building between Compo Shopping Center and Westport Fire headquarters has been home to the Connecticut Humane Society.
Connecticut Human Society, on Post Road East.
They’re moving soon, to Wilton. That offers an opportunity for new housing — right on the bus line, a few steps from Trader Joe’s, CVS and more.
Westport’s Inclusionary Housing Zone — in place since 2010 — has encouraged housing (including affordable units) on mixed-used properties along the Post Road. Beneficiaries include developments behind Splash car wash, and at the former Geiger’s and Kowalsky sites opposite Greens Farms Elementary School.
But according to Rick Redniss, the regulation is not “user-friendly.” Some of the provisions discourage housing, especially of the affordable and below-market kinds.
Rick Redniss
He should know. He’s a partner in Redniss & Mead, the land use consulting firm that has worked on many successful local projects.
Redniss says the pre-app addresses the question: “Why can’t a site on the Post Road be all residential?” It seeks to add flexibility to the IHZ designation.
Housing — some of it affordable — is more necessary than “another small commercial building,” he says.
A builder with extensive Westport experience has contracted to buy the Humane Society property, Redniss says. But they need to know the P&Z backs housing at the site.
Redniss has worked on other affordable housing — some of it off-site — that many Westporters may be unaware of.
The Residence — the independent, assisted and memory care community on the Post Road near Morningside Drive — was built in an IHZ area. Instead of 3 small apartments on-site, the project includes 2 single-family homes — with yards and garages – on Crescent Park.
The Mill condominium project on Richmondville Avenue includes 5 units at 136 Riverside Avenue, next to Saugatuck Elementary School.
The Victorian home was completely renovated. Four apartments are now occupied by adults with special needs. A fifth is rented by an income-eligible resident director. A 49-year lease with the town has been pre-paid.
136 Riverside Avenue, after renovations.
Meanwhile, residential units are going up on land between New Country Toyota and Splash car wash. In collaboration with Homes with Hope, Redniss is proposing an affordable 2-family home off-site.
Also in the works: on-site affordable housing at 220 Post Road West — the 2-story retail building that housed a rug store, on the corner of Sylvan Road North.
And, in the northern corner of Westport, 14 units of special needs housing at Glendinning Place, near the former Bridgewater headquarters off Weston Road.
Taken together, that’s a lot of affordable and below-market housing, at a wide variety of sites.
Keep your eye on the Humane Society — and other spaces — as public and private officials seek humane solutions to a town, state and national housing crisis.
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