I live in one of the houses on Hiawatha Lane owned by Felix Charney. It is one of the houses he wants to knock down to build a controversial housing development.
Felix Charney
When businesses started shutting down because of the pandemic, he was quick to offer to forgive the rent for April. He did the same in May and June. He even offered eggs from his farm.
Now he has lowered our rent substantially. That is a huge help in these tough times.
It puts my mind at ease knowing that I, my elderly mother,and son have a place to live. So no matter what people may think about his development plan, they should know that the man behind it isn’t the greedy, heartless monster some would paint him as being.
(To nominate an Unsung Hero, email dwoog@optonline.net)
The proposed Hiawatha Lane housing development has been rejected 8 times by town officials.
Its developer is betting the 9th time’s the charm.
In June, Westport’s Planning & Zoning Commission struck down Summit Saugatuck’s plan for 187 units on the narrow road nestled between Saugatuck Avenue and I-95 exit 17. Board members cited concerns about access by firefighters and first responders, as well as traffic and pedestrian concerns.
Applications for sewer connections were denied earlier, by the P&Z and/or Board of Selectmen, in July and September 2007; January 2015; July 2016, and February 2017.
A text amendment and zone change were voted down in November 2016. The text amendment, map amendment and zoning amendment request defeated this past June was the 8th request.
Every denial was unanimous.
Summit Saugatuck’s plan for Hiawatha Lane.
But Summit Saugatuck principal Felix Charney will be back again. Because the proposal is submitted as an 8-30g application — meaning it falls under the state’s “affordable housing” regulation — it’s been re-submitted. A public hearing is set for September 12.
The plan would include 130 market-rate units, and 57 deemed “affordable.” Hiawatha Lane already includes many homes that are among the most affordable in Westport.
The 8-30g statute mandates that 10% of a town’s housing stock be “affordable,” under a state formula. Westport is currently at 4%.
However, only units constructed after 1990, and those that are deed-restricted for 40 years, are considered. Most Westport units serving lower-income groups do not fall into either category.
In March, Westport received a “Certificate of Affordable Housing Completion” from the state Department of Housing. The result was a 4-year moratorium on 8-30g.
The moratorium was granted “based upon the significant progress Westport has made in supplying affordable housing,” 1st Selectman Jim Marpe. Yet the moratorium does not preclude more submissions, like the one Summit Saugatuck is proposing.
Summit Saugatuck and Garden Homes — another developer whose proposal to build on untenable land was denied by the town — tried to get the state to vacate the moratorium. Their petition was denied on Monday by Connecticut’s Department of Housing.
1177 Post Road East helped Westport earn a 4-year moratorium on 8-30g proposals.
The town has received “moratorium points” for these units:
Rotary Centennial House, 10 West End Avenue (6 out of 6 total units)
Bradley Commons, Bradley Lane (4 of 20)
Saugatuck Center, Riverside Avenue (5 of 27)
Bedford Square, Church Lane (5 of 26)
20 Cross Street (3 of 10; a portion of all others also earn points)
Coastal Point, 1135 Post Road East (2 of 12)
1177 Greens Farms, 1177 Post Road East (29 of 94; a portion of all others also earn points )
Sasco Creek, 1655 Post Road East (31 of 54)
Hidden Brook, 1655 Post Road East (4 of 39)
Hales Court (38 of 78).
As noted earlier, that does not count any affordable housing built before 1990.
In the wake of a Superior Court judge’s ruling that Westport grant conditional approval for a sewer line extension — the first step toward construction of a large housing complex on Hiawatha Lane, off Saugatuck Avenue next to I-95 Exit 17 — the developer in the lawsuit has issued a press release.
Summit Development says:
A 14-year effor to create a moderate-income housing community in the Town of Westport took a major step forward after a State Superior Court judge ordered the town to grant a conditional approval for a sewer line extension to serve proposed new development on Hiawatha Lane in the Saugatuck neighborhood.
In a ruling issued May 7, Judge Kenneth Shluger ordered the town to extend an existing municipal sewer line 1600 feet to serve the proposed development. The judge said the town’s Water Pollution Control Authority has abused its discretion by delaying the extension. The town’s 3-member governing Board of Selectmen serves as the commissioners of the Authority.
The town has maintained that it could not consider extending the sewer because a failing sewer line and related pumping station that would serve the site are inadequate to handle the additional sewage effluent the new housing would generate, and further said that an existing town policy precluded it from issuing conditional approvals.
The developer, Summit Saugatuck LLC of Southport has maintained since early 2016, when it negotiated a joint venture agreement with the Westport Housing Authority to build 155 units, that the town was not only authorized but obligated to issue a sewer extension approval conditioned upon the completion of the sewer and pump station upgrades.
In 2016, the Public Works Department set the schedule for the upgrades, which are now nearing completion. Summit’s property met all the criteria for receiving sewer service, including being within the Sewer District, and that the town’s sewage treatment plant having ample capacity.
Summit’s attorney, Timothy Hollister, said the judge’s decision supports Summit’s position that the town’s interests are fully protected by granting the extension conditioned on the upgrade being completed, and that the town produced no evidence that it has a long-standing policy against issuing conditional approvals. “There is no such policy,” he said.
Felix Charney, president of Summit Development, said: “The judge found that the town has been using the sewer system upgrade as a way of delaying creation of the moderate-income housing that is so desperately needed in Westport. In 2016, the town encouraged us to partner with the Westport Housing Authority and we came up with a great plan for 155 units including 70 moderate-income units. But when we presented the very plan the town had encouraged, the Town Board dropped its support and hid behind the sewer line issue as the way of blocking the development. Now, with the Housing Authority having lost its financing opportunity, we are proceeding on our own.”
Summit’s new proposal: 187 units.
Summit’s revised plan will feature 187 studio, 1- and 2-bedroom apartments with 30 percent for moderate income households having maximum rent and household income restrictions for 40 years. The 8-acre site is centrally located with access to local stores, restaurants and services. The community will be a transit oriented development (TOD), as it is within easy walking distance of the Saugatuck train station.
Westport First Selectman Jim Marpe has been quoted saying that the court decision will have “very little practical impact on the proposed project’s timetable.”
Charney responds: “For years we have offered compromises, all of which have been rebuffed by the town. We have a great location near the train station, are in a neighborhood where there are other multi-family apartments and are using a classic New England-style architecture that fits beautifully within the community. The real question boils down to whether Westport wants to be an inclusive or an exclusive community?”
He said Summit had offered the town a series of smaller proposals including the one in partnership with the Westport Housing Authority, but the town chose to not commit.“They left us no alternative but to turn to the courts.”
Carol Martin, executive director of the Westport Housing Authority, said the authority supports the private sector developing housing in the town. “We have reached the point where we are no longer accepting additional applicants signing up with us. With approximately 1,000 names already on the list, there’s no point. We applaud private sector developers like Summit who are willing to step in and help to address the huge need we have in Westport.”
Two big decisions — both of which could impact the future of Saugatuck — were made yesterday.
The Planning & Zoning Commission denied the request for a sewer line from Davenport Avenue to Hiawatha Lane. The proposal was crucial to approval of a larger project: the construction of 155 rental units on Hiawatha Lane Extension.
The vote was 4-0, with 1 abstention 5-0. The reason, P&Z commissioners said, was that other Westport sewers — including a pump that runs underneath the Saugatuck River — cannot handle the increased flow.
This was the 5th request from developer Felix Charney to build multi-family housing in the already dense area off Saugatuck Avenue. Right now, many of the units there command some of the lowest resale and rental prices in Westport.
A rendering of the proposed Hiawatha Lane development.
Earlier in the day, the Westport Preservation Alliance announced that the state Department of Transportation has agreed to designate part of Route 136 — specifically Compo Road South, Bridge Street and the William F. Cribari (aka Bridge Street) swing bridge — a “state scenic highway.”
The WPA says the designation “adds an additional level of protection for this important area of our town. Any proposed changes to the bridge must be reviewed by the State Scenic Highway Advisory Committee. Effectively, this allows a different set of state officials, who may be more sympathetic to scenic beauty and preservation, to weigh in on the DOT’s plans.”
The William Cribari (aka Bridge Street) Bridge.
Plans for multi-family housing on Hiawatha Lane, and for major changes to the bridge, are not yet dead.
But neither are they as healthy as they were yesterday.
Alert — and worried — “06880” reader Carolanne Curry writes:
I am trying to understand how the strong and resilient community of Old Saugatuck finds itself under siege for the 5th time, by a developer who wants to build a building he shouldn’t be building, in a residential area he should be building in, and (as a topper) he wants the Town of Westport to give him public sewer access for his proposed 155 apartments on Hiawatha Lane Extension.
All this building on a nondescript street carved out of wetlands and swamps, bounded by roads, railroads and highways, so that a natural cocoon of 8 streets slowly shaped this community.
Hiawatha Lane is a narrow street, filled with homes that are modest by Westport standards. It’s accessible only via West Ferry Lane off Saugatuck Avenue, next to the I-95 eastbound entrance/exit ramp.
Felix Charney of Summit Saugatuck LLC is the developer with this fixation to build on Hiawatha Lane Extension. Surprisingly, despite his failed efforts, he is making his 5th request for public sewer access before the Planning and Zoning Commission tomorrow (Thursday, July 7, 7 p.m., Town Hall auditorium). This time, he is appearing with the active encouragement of the 1st and 2nd selectmen.
I’m curious how Charney and Westport Housing Authority chair David Newberg got to be “building” partners on Hiawatha Lane Extension? When in 2015 did the town, through the offices of the 1st and 2nd selectman, invite and encourage the formation of a Charney/WHA partnership? Why would WHA accept such a contentious role in further alienating residents of Old Saugatuck?
Why would the 1st and 2nd selectmen resurrect such a poorly conceived proposal for 155 apartments? It comes with the same problems that existed in 2005. There is no sewer. Has anything changed?
And why make WHA complicit in the destruction of a community that is an authentic model of affordable, workforce housing, exactly the kind of housing for which WHA advocates? Housing in Old Saugatuck is the direct result of its history with the railroad, the Saugatuck River and the construction of I-95.
Old Saugatuck is a community. Felix Charney would make it a commodity.
A rendering of the proposed Hiawatha Lane development.
On an even more critical note, when did our Town Hall leaders plan to tell the residents of Old Saugatuck that they were no longer on the side of preserving the precious heritage and homes of the community, but had given their allegiance to Felix Charney? Was this what voters and taxpayers had in mind from their leaders?
In the David and Goliath scenario that will play out tomorrow, before the P&Z with this developer once again, the residents of Old Saugatuck call out to their neighbors, friends and supporters to come to Town Hall. Be a presence and a voice with us, and for us.
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1st Selectman Jim Marpe replies:
Felix Charney put forth a sewer extension request last year related to his proposed development that received a negative recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Earlier this year, Mr. Charney presented a pre-application proposal for his Hiawatha Lane properties that differed from the previous year by incorporating a joint venture with the Westport Housing Authority.
He has now presented another sewer extension request related to that latest proposal. Because that request is in process, I cannot comment on the merits of this proposal outside of public session. The sewer extension request and rationale will be discussed following the town’s standard policies and procedures tomorrow in public session. That will be the time for the public to hear more about the proposed plans, to comment, and to have an open dialogue with the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The sewer extension request will ultimately be heard by the Town’s Water Pollution Control Authority in public session, which will afford another opportunity for dialogue. Because I am a member of the WPCA that will hear this sewer application, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on this proposal outside of the WPCA public hearing process.
I offered the Westport Housing Authority a chance to reply. They declined to comment at this time.
Nearly 40 years ago, a group of women gathered at Selma Miriam’s 29 Hiawatha Lane home. Their idea of a vegetarian restaurant — and feminist collective — became Bloodroot. Today, it’s still around. Miriam’s still involved.
Hiawatha Lane is still around too, and Miriam still lives there — for now, anyway. But the neighborhood is in the crosshairs of a proposed housing development. Miriam sends these thoughts:
Developer Felix Charney is back trying to foist 155 multiple housing units onto a little dead-end street: Hiawatha Lane Extension.
This flawed project was rejected at least 3 times already by the Planning & Zoning Commission, as well as other town agencies.
A rendering of the proposed Hiawatha Lane development.
While the practicality and cost of putting in sewer lines and fixing pump station #2 remains unresolved, and no one has yet evaluated the assault on inland wetlands in this area of swamp land between I-95 and the railroad tracks, the biggest impact is that the warren of streets comprising Old Saugatuck (the only naturally formed working-class neighborhood of homeowners in Westport) would be destroyed by the increased traffic from 155 new units.
But besides the misery to us locals, imagine the effect at the intersection of Route 136 (Saugatuck Avenue), Exit 17 off I-95, Route 33 (Riverside Avenue) and other roads leading to the railroad station. A nightmare for anyone needing to travel these roads.
So how come this developer, turned down 3 times before, now has the support — worse, the encouragement — of the 1st and 2nd selectmen? Even more questionable is the support of the Westport Housing Authority, which is apparently eager to help finance Felix Charney’s previous financial mistakes by using public funds (taxpayer money) as a bailout. Is this greed or stupidity, or both?
Of course they may say they want to ward off the threat of the state’s infamous 8-30g law, which lets developers build any size housing development they want in defiance of local zoning ordinances, if the local board has rejected applications that include 30% of “affordable” units in the development proposal. However, any prior existing affordable housing is not counted. So it becomes okay to destroy an historic, working-class neighborhood in order to build 155 units and call 70 units “affordable.”
Hiawatha Lane is a narrow street, filled with homes that are modest by Westport standards. It’s accessible only via West Ferry Lane off Saugatuck Avenue, next to the I-95 eastbound entrance/exit ramp.
This is a numbers game that we — that is, Westport — can never win as long as developers continue building higher and ever higher-end housing. We can never catch up!
But it is incomprehensible that the Westport Housing Authority does not get it, and is willing to sacrifice a well-established, historic working class community and waste tax dollars to support this developer’s project.
And so, as a remedy, I offer a fantasy, a sort of (tongue-in-cheek) “modest proposal”.*
Let’s pretend the wetlands will not be disturbed while the area is over-built. Let’s pretend sewers can be provided (from where? paid for by whom?). Let’s pretend that the beginning of Hiawatha Lane Extension could be “walled off,”protecting Hiawatha Lane, Davenport Avenue, Dr. Gillette Circle, and most importantly, Saugatuck Avenue, Exit 17 and the train station access.
Hiawatha Lane extension is shown by an arrow, on this Google Map image. It’s below I-95. The entrance is via West Ferry Lane, which is off Saugatuck Avenue (diagonal road on the right side of the image).
Let’s pretend we could get Norwalk to change its mind and allow Charney’s development to exit through to Norwalk from Hiawatha Lane Extension through the old Norden property. Alternatively, the development could have its own exit onto I-95, since an access road already exists. Finally, let’s pretend that taxpayers would not be expected to reward Charney’s fiscal irresponsibilities.
Ridiculous? Yes! The best decision would be to turn down this project application again. Keep this kind of building on main roads that already have sewers, traffic controls, and no wetlands.
A big question remains: Why have Selectmen Marpe and Kaner invested their efforts in this project? And why is the Westport Housing Authority blind to the problems intrinsic to helping this particular developer?
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