Westport P&Z To Review Municipal Improvement Requests, Text Amendment

The following announcement is from the Westport Planning and Zoning Department:

WESTPORT, CT — Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young has announced that on May 22, 2023, at 7:00 PM, the Planning and Zoning Commission Public Meeting agenda includes the following items:

• 15-year Use Restriction between the Town of Westport and Homes with Hope for the Gillespie Center located at 45 Jesup Road.

All application materials may be viewed on the Town’s website here.

The Gillespie Center has been serving the Westport community for 40 years by providing area residents with emergency shelter, supportive housing, a community kitchen and food pantry. The Use Restriction is related to the acceptance of the $1.2M grant funds for shelter improvements, approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2022.

• Text Amendment #826, submitted by Rick Hoag of FWH Architect, LLC, proposes to add a definition to §5-2 describing tenants within a Unified Shopping Center (USC) that qualify to use the 1:400 SF parking standard in §24-11, Parking and Loading for the General Business District (GBD) and §34-5, Parking Requirements Table; to expand the list of qualifying tenants that may use the 1:400 SF parking standard to include mattress stores; and to modify §24-11 and §34-5 to also allow USC’s on properties split-zoned GBD and Residence A to use the USC parking standards in §24-11 and §34-5. If adopted the text amendment will enable additional properties to utilize the USC parking standards adopted by the Commission in 2021.

Text Amendment #826 can be viewed online here.

• Two requests submitted by the First Selectwoman on behalf of the Board of Education (BOE) for two play structures including a Fitcore Extreme Course to serve Bedford Middle School (BMS) students, and to authorize an existing Rope Course serving Staples High School students on Town-owned property at 70-88 North Avenue.

The requests viewed as “playgrounds” as described in the Connecticut General Statutes necessitate a Positive Report from the Planning and Zoning Commission, acting in an advisory capacity to the First Selectwoman pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes §8-24, Municipal Improvement, OR the request must receive an affirmative vote by the RTM to overturn a Negative §8-24 Report.

The Municipal Improvement requests can be viewed online here.

The May 22, 2023, public hearing will be live streamed at 7:00 PM on the Town’s website at www.westportct.gov, and accessible on Optimum Government Access Channel. The remote meeting link is published on the meeting agenda available on the Town’s website on the “Meeting List and Calendar” web page. Written comments may be submitted and should be sent to PandZ@westportct.gov by 12:00pm on the day of the meeting if intended to be distributed for consideration by members of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Written comments received after 12:00pm on the day of the meeting will be entered into the record but will not be distributed until the next business day.