Longtime Bridge Street resident Werner Liepolt has watched the Cribari Bridge debate closely.
In the other direction from his home, another story is unfolding. A proposal to demolish the one of the 2 office buildings at 55-57 Greens Farms Road — and replace it with a 250-unit apartment structure — 30 percent of them “affordable” under state statute — is working its way through town bodies.
The Conservation Commission will discuss the plan at a public hearing on Wednesday (September 16, 7 p.m., Town Hall auditorium and livestream).
Liepolt — a recognized consulting party for the Cribari Bridge project — wrote to 1st Selectman Kevin Christie, Representative Town Meeting members and other officials:
TC Greens Farms LLC has proposed demolishing the approximately 60,000-square foot office building at 57 Greens Farms Road and replacing it with a 250-unit multi-family residential building, with 30 percent of the units designated as affordable housing.
The reported development cost is approximately $100 million, and the proposal has now entered Westport’s municipal review process.
55 Greens Farms Road — the building closest to the street — would be demolished, and replaced with a new apartment structure.
This location is directly relevant to Cribari Bridge Project 158-214. Greens Farms Road is part of the residential corridor connecting I-95 exits 18 and 17 by way of Bridge Street, the Cribari Bridge and Riverside Avenue.
Traffic generated or redistributed at 55–57 Greens Farms Road therefore has the potential to affect the traffic baseline, route choices and cumulative conditions surrounding the bridge and the Bridge Street Historic District.
I am not suggesting that all traffic generated by 250 apartments should simply be treated as new traffic. A responsible analysis must compare the proposed residential use with the actual or reasonably anticipated occupancy and traffic generation of the office building being removed. Nor is this an objection to the affordable housing component of the proposal.
Bridge Street traffic. (Photo/Werner Liepolt)
However, a development of this magnitude on a road feeding the bridge corridor cannot reasonably be ignored while the Federal Highway Administration and Connecticut Department of Transportation prepare a revised Environmental Assessment. The traffic analysis should examine:
- Existing and projected daily and peak-hour traffic from the property
- The assumptions used for the office building being demolished
- Anticipated distribution of residential traffic toward I-95 exits 17 and 18 and toward the Cribari Bridge
- The interaction between this development and each bridge alternative under consideration
- I-95 diversion and navigation-app routing through Greens Farms Road, Bridge Street and Riverside Avenue
- Construction traffic, emergency access and pedestrian and bicycle safety
- The combined effects of foreseeable development and changes in the bridge’s weight, geometry and accessibility to larger vehicles.
This is particularly important because altering the Cribari Bridge could itself change driver behavior and route selection. A development analysis that assumes the present bridge, and a bridge analysis that omits the proposed development, could leave the public with 2 incomplete studies and no examination of their combined consequences.
Those consequences could include additional congestion and cut-through traffic, changes in the volume and composition of vehicles, increased noise and air pollution, pedestrian and cyclist hazards, and effects on the residential character, setting and integrity of the National Register-listed Bridge Street Historic District.
Aerial view of 55-57 Greens Farms Road. The street is at the bottom. It feeds into Bridge Street and the Cribari Bridge (left, off the image).
These matters are relevant to the revised environmental review and, where historic properties may be affected, to the continuing Section 106 consultation.
I respectfully request that:
- This development proposal and this correspondence be entered into the Project 158-214 administrative and consultation records
- FHWA and CTDOT obtain and review the developer’s traffic-impact study and underlying assumptions
- The revised Environmental Assessment disclose whether and how this development is incorporated into its traffic baseline and indirect and cumulative-effects analysis
- Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office consider whether resulting traffic conditions associated with the bridge alternatives could affect the character and setting of the Bridge Street Historic District
- Consulting parties receive a written response explaining how this new information will be addressed before the revised Environmental Assessment is completed.
No single agency should review only its isolated portion of these projects while overlooking the corridor-wide consequences created by their interaction. The public deserves a current, coordinated analysis before decisions become effectively irreversible.
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“Fred” (Lawrence Weisman)