Back in the day, Westport’s rules for “accessory dwelling units” — detached structures, away from a main house — were strict.
They could include only 2 of 3 plumbing fixtures: sink, toilet or shower. Kitchens were not allowed. They could not be rented out. They functioned more like pool houses.
Regulations covering accessory barns were even tighter: no bathrooms, kitchens or central heating. They had to be used for livestock, or to store farm products, equipment or feed.
Rules were strict on the use of barns on private property. (Photo/Michelle Perillie)
The only legal “accessory dwelling units” (ADUs) were those with special approval, proven to be “historic” structures.
In 2021, all that changed.
The Planning & Zoning Commission approved ADUs. There are restrictions on footprints and heights, based on the size of the entire lot. But the new regulations opened up Westport’s housing stock, to residents looking to downsize, and those who cannot afford to rent larger homes.
ADUs provide added income for residents going through life changes — a lost job or divorce, say, or those whose children have moved away and want to move into a smaller place on their own property, while renting out their larger home.
They’re also great for au pairs and nannies.
A 1,400-square foot, near net-zero Westport ADU designed by John Rountree.
ADUs are part of a nationwide movement to add options to typical suburban housing patterns.
The only problem: Not manyWestporters are aware that accessory dwelling units exist, or can be built.
The Planning & Zoning Department has issued just 30 permits since 2021. That’s about 10 a year — less than one a month.
A typical construction: a 1,400 square foot “barn aesthetic” ADU. It features a large 1-story space in front (with kitchen, bathroom and dining area), and a 2-story space in back. There is a sleeping loft on the mezzanine level.
The ADU could be used for an office, guest cottage, or rental apartment.
Accessory dwelling units are “basically small houses,” Rountree says. Most are 1,200 to 1,400 square feet (a typical Westport home is 3,000 to 6,000 square feet).
The style of an ADU should match the existing home, Rountree says. “It’s just a smaller scale — smaller windows, and everything else.”
Another John Rountree-designed ADU.
The footprint of an ADU is 850 square feet on lots of up to 1.5 acres. A second floor will add more total square footage, though there are height limits too.
“The idea is not to to overwhelm the property,” Rountree says.
There are other restrictions. ADUs must have a septic system, or tie in to the town sewer.
Rentals must be for at least 6 months (Airbnbs are not allowed). The owner must reside on the property, in either the main dwelling or the accessory one.
Rountree recently designed an ADU for clients whose adult daughter will initially live there. As they get older they plan to move in themselves, and rent out the home they now reside in.
The architect enjoys working on ADUs, because plans come together quickly.
Builders like them too, because they can work without interfering with the daily lives of residents of the main house.
John Rountree
Rountree notes that on a cost per square foot basis, accessory dwelling units may be more expensive than large homes, which have a greater economy of scale.
Costs are lower for existing structures with foundations — a detached garage, say, or barn — that can be repurposed into ADUs.
Rountree is trying to spread the word that ADUs are legal, and practical. Most Westporters, he says, are unaware they’re an option. When they find out, many are intrigued.
ADUs do not work for every property. Building a new septic system can be expensive. Some properties do not have space that would work well. And because 3 off-street parking spaces must be provided for a house with an ADU, some homeowners might have to enlarge their driveway.
Those are questions architects like Rountree are ready to address.
After all, the goal is to add more accessory dwelling units to more addresses, for more robust housing stock all over town.
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The first casualty of the Post Road East construction project was a dozen or so trees at Linxweiler House, between McDonald’s and Fresh Market.
The second casualty is a dozen or so businesses on the other side of the street.
Crews have completely blocked the median’s left-hand cut-through, just before the Roseville Road light. There is also no left-hand turn onto Hillspoint Road.
Work is shut down for Easter weekend. So customers headed west who want to patronize Calise’s Market, International Wines, the Double L Farm Stand or other stores have to head to Mitchells or beyond, to turn around.
A plumbing business there missed a delivery yesterday. The driver refused to turn around, forcing the owner to travel to Bridgeport to pick it up.
There is no word on how long the closures will last.
Yellow construction truck blocks the Post Road East cut-through. (Photo/Michael Calise)
The Westport Museum for History & Culture and Westport Country Playhouse are collaborating on a new micro-exhibit.
“Music of the American Experience: Black Excellence and the Sounds of the Jazz Age” is on view in the Playhouse lobby, from April 11th to 29th.
Tying in with the Playhouse’s current production, “Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical,” the exhibit explores music featured in the show, and the historical events that led to the Harlem Renaissance.
It’s free, and open 2 hours before show time.
Last fall, the Museum’s exhibit “Departures/Arrivals” accompanied the WCP production “From the Mississippi Delta,” about the Great Migration.
“Ain’t Misbehavin’”’s score of jazz, blues and swing music of the 1920s and ’30s provides insight into a vibrant time in American history and music.
For more information on the show, including tickets, click here.
The cast of “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (from left): Judith Franklin, Will Stone, Miya Bass, Jay Copeland, Paris Bennett. (Photo/Ron Heerkens Jr.)
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It’s about time.
Miggs Burroughs is the Westport Book Shop’s guest exhibitor of the month.
The Staples High School graduate has designed hundreds of logos, ads, brochures and websites for commercial and non-profit clients throughout Fairfield County — often pro bono.
He created Westport’s town flag, a US postage stamp, an Easter egg for the Reagan White House, and 4 Time magazine covers. He’s also a co-founder of the Artists Collective of Westport. His honors and awards are too many to list here (so click here to see).
Westport Book Shop will exhibit Miggs’ “Signs of Compassion.” The work is a composite of 30 individual lenticular images, each showing a member of the Westport community using American Sign Language to sign a word or phrase from an Emily Dickinson poem about compassion. It can be seen during business hours (Sundays and Mondays, noon to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
A larger version will be exhibited in the lobby of the United Nations building soon.
Miggs Burroughs with “Signs of Compassion,” at the Westport Book Shop.
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From time to time, we see a variety of markings on local roads.
These days, the Evergreen Parkway/Tamarac Road intersection is particularly colorful.
It’s part of the sewer project in the area. And every color means something different.
Alert — and engineer-minded — “06880” reader Mark Mathias notes: “Blue is for water lines. Yellow is for gas lines. Pink is a survey marker. White is the proposed dig area.”
On Sunday, May 7 — as she’s done since it began — Laura will be part of the 18th annual STAR Walk at Sherwood Island State Park.
It’s a fundraiser for the non-profit, which serves more than 700 area families. They support 11 group homes and 16 apartments so that people with intellectual and developmental differences can live independently. They provide training and job placement for 236 adults, plus intervention services for infants and children.
Last year, Laura raised over $16,000. “Team Laura” was second, out of 30 teams.
You can purchase “stars” ($1 minimum each). Click here, or send a check made out to STAR Inc. to Laura Blair, 58 Woodside Avenue, Westport, CT 06880.
Ray Flanigan was a soccer star at Staples High School. After graduating in 1969, and then from Hartwick College, he coached and played on Westport teams. He moved to Bethel, and many Westporters made the trip to the photo shop he owned for decades.
His wife Juleen was a special education teacher, revered throughout the state. A severe concussion, suffered when a large truck smashed into her in 2014, resulted in permanent impairment.
In 2018 she was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s. Through fitness, nutrition, proper sleep, music, her faith and assistance from her family and friends, she delayed the disease’s progress.
In November — having difficulty recognizing family members, and needing full time care — she moved into a facility. The cost is $8,200 a month.
A walk on May 13 (11 a.m., Bethel High School track) will raise needed funds. But anyone, anywhere can donate to Juleen’s care. Click here for details.
Yesterday, “06880” profiled architect and solar energy advocate John Rountree.
Next Thursday (April 13, 5 p.m.., Zoom), he’ll present his insights on the benefits of solar energy in public buildings, to the Public Site & Building Commission.
Rountree is no stranger to the subject. He has already designed the solar panels for Westport’s fire headquarters and train station.
This is a rendering John Roundtree made for Westport fire headquarters. The actual view today looks very similar.
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Westport’s sister city of Lyman, Ukraine continues to need our aid.
And Westporters of all ages help.
Yesterday, Staples High School sophomores Sam Rossoni and Alex Kuster spent several hours sorting through and documenting supplies, donated by the town for police organizations in the embattled city.
It takes a village — and ours stands ready to help.
Alex Kuster and Sam Rossoni flank Ukraine Aid International’s Katya Wauchope, at the police station garage where goods for Lyman are stored before shipment.
On Tuesday, Staples High School’s Club Green formally thanked Westport’s Representative Town Meeting for passing an ordinance limiting the use of leaf blowers.
But, senior Tanvi Gorre says, “the RTM set more than a green standard throughout this process. As a student involved in the process, the RTM gave me the liberty to share my voice and aid change in our town.
“Although our young voices are still deemed null in a sea of experience, I never experienced this feeling with the RTM. They were willing to see the power in someone who hasn’t seen the world for what it is, but instead for what it can be.
“They were willing to respect me enough to challenge me. For that, I am truly grateful.”
Tanvi Gorre thanks the Westport RTM, on behalf of Club Green and herself.
Staples freshmen Adam Turner and Matthew Lupinacci helped lead Maritime Rowing Club’s Under-16 coxed quad to victory at the San Diego Crew Classic last weekend.
The premier regatta includes over 100 races, and draws more than 4,000 athletes. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Crew Classic, but only the 4th year that youth sculling events were included.
Other Maritime rowers from Westport included Mina Leon (part of the 4th place women’s under 17 4x), and Daniel Kleeger (part of the 6th place men’s youth B 4x B).
Boys Under 16 picture: L-R: William Whitman, Henry Brauweiler, Asher Daniel, Matthew Lupinacci, Adam Turner
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Caron Keenan — former chair of Staples’ foreign language department — died peacefully on Wednesday. He was 84, and lived in Fairfield.
The Norwalk native originally intended to enter the priesthood. After graduating magna cum laude from Fairfield University and earning an M.A. in French at Assumption College, he taught middle school in Stamford before joining Staples as a French and Latin teacher in 1967.
He was also an assistant headmaster for library and media, before retiring in 1995.
Caron — a passionate ham radio operator (WA1OMJ) — helped run Staples’ radio station WWPT. He was an early adopter of Apple computers, promoting computer labs in Westport schools and repairing Apple II(e)s and the first Macintoshes.
He had a lifelong relationship with France. On a sabbatical, he lived in Rennes with his young family. He organized school exchanges, there and made many close friends.
He wrote a book about American high schools for French audiences, “Life in a High School.”
In retirement he enjoyed researching his ancestors in the US, Quebec and Ireland.
Caron is survived by his wife of 59 years, Lynn; children Christine Fodor (Gabor) of Fairfield, Keenan (Ashlee) of St. Augustine, Florida and Kevin (Sarah Azaransky) of New York City, and grandchildren Calli, Michael and Daniel Fodor, Ryan Keenan, and Finn Keenan and Anna Lucy Azaransky. Other family includes the Sjodins, Kanes, Caskins and Eckloffs.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Wednesday, April 12 (10:30 a.m., The Chapel at St. Pius X, 834 Brookside Drive, Fairfield. Burial will follow at St. John’s Cemetery, Norwalk.
Caron Keenan
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Staples High School Class of 2002 Jared Frank visited his hometown recently. In the heart of downtown, near Gorham Island, he spotted this sleeping swan.
It’s today’s “Westport … Naturally” image, and a peaceful way to begin the Easter (egg) weekend.
And finally … speaking of “Ain’t Misbehavin'” (story above): Here’s Fats Waller’s original stride piano performance of the song. He co-wrote it for the musical “Connie’s Hot Chocolates” (called “Hot Chocolates” when it moved from Connie’s Inn in Harlem to the Hudson Theater on Broadway).
He re-recorded “Ain’t Misbehavin’” as a vocal in 1943.
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When solar panels were installed on the Westport Fire Department headquarters roof, it was one of the first such projects for any Connecticut municipality.
There are solar panels at the Westport train station too.
And on many homes in town — including John Rountree’s.
But the architect, and longtime solar power advocate, wishes there were more.
John Rountree
Rountree is no Johnny-come-lately to the benefits of converting the sun’s energy into electricity. He was studying architecture at Syracuse University when President Carter installed solar panels on the White House roof. (president Reagan removed them a few years later.)
Rountree incorporated solar into his own work, first with Valus & Carpenter and then at his own firm. For several years he also ran a solar consulting business.
The other day, he sat in his sunny home office, on Compo Road South. Rountree and his wife Cheryl have lived — and raised their 2 now-adult children — there since 1997.
They’ve done plenty of work on what was once a dilapidated 1910 home. Solar panels on it, and a nearby free-standing garage, are important (and money-saving) parts of their lives.
His house is not Net-Zero. (The term refers to super-efficient design and construction that can generate up to 100% of the energy it consumes, through renewable energy systems. With thick walls, high levels of insulation, high-performance windows, meticulous air sealing, balanced ventilation, well-functioning electric heat pumps and photovoltaic panels, they are quiet, well-ventilated, and extremely comfortable.)
But in 2015 he was hired to design a Net-Zero house on North Avenue, near Staples High School. The electric bill for the 7,000-square foot home is just $40 a month.
The owners don’t hear any traffic. And the air quality is “exceptional.”
Net-zero, on North Avenue. (Photo/Videler Photography)
Rountree is an advocate for anything that increases energy efficiency, and helps reduce carbon footprints.
More and more, he says, that’s what clients ask for.
Such design — whether new construction or part of a renovation — is more costly, by about 8-10%. However, he energy savings pay for themselves in just a few years.
The challenge is that not many contractors know how to build like that.
Nor do they want to.
“I don’t want to badmouth them,” Rountree says. “But adding 10% to the cost of a spec house can be a hard sell. So it really has to be a custom job, for a specific client willing to pay for it.”
Still, he says, “when you explain the benefits, why wouldn’t you build that way?” (The federal government offers tax credits for Net-Zero construction too, as well as up to 30% for solar panels. There are also state credits for energy efficiency.)
Solar panels are not just for homes. This is a rendering Roundtree made for Westport fire headquarters. The actual view today looks very similar.
These days, much of Rountree’s work involves renovations. “It’s hard with walls that are just 2x4s,” he says. “It’s a little easier if you take the siding off to add windows; then you can add insulation. Sometimes you do the best you can, with what you’re given.”
Solar panels are less difficult to install (and explain). All that’s needed is southern exposure, and few overhanging trees. (Rountree cringes when he sees panels on northern exposure, or hidden by branches.)
As he gives a tour of his own sustainably designed home — showing and describing his roof panels with its heat-recovery system, his European wood-burning stove with a built-in bake oven, and the array of batteries and pumps in the basement — Rountree is content.
John Rountree has added solar panels to his house, and a nearby garage.
He’s doing what he can, personally and professionally, for the environment, and the planet.
He’s raising awareness, so others can do the same.
On this chilly early spring day, his home is brightly lit.
And very, very warm.
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Posted onNovember 27, 2017|Comments Off on Green Your Home; Save The Planet!
Westporters care about the environment.
But many of our homes are older — real energy wasters. Even newer homes are not as energy efficient as we might think. All of us can learn more about saving energy.
A golden opportunity comes this Thursday (November 30, 7 p.m., Earthplace). Westport architects Howard Lathrop and John Rountree, and Greentek Consulting founder David Mann, will talk about building a “net zero” home for little — or no — additional cost. They’ll also discuss how to renovate a home, or replace an appliance, without breaking the bank.
“Greening Your Home: Sustainable Energy Saving Solutions” is sponsored by Earthplace, Westport’s Green Task Force and the Westport Library. It’s one more step on the road to making our town “net zero” by 2050.
This energy efficient house could be less expensive than you think.
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