By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — “Where are the chairs?”

That was the initial, most common reaction heard from people attending Tuesday night’s forum on new plans for the Parker Harding Plaza parking lot, hosted by the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee at the Westport Library.

The scene in the library’s Trefz Forum, where the meeting was held, had more than 20 easels with various architectural renderings of the lot, as well as charts and other schematic drawings, posted around the large, open space — without a single chair.

More than 150 attendees at the “Reconnecting the Riverfront” forum, instead were expected to mill about, perusing the visual presentations on the new plan and past proposals, to discuss them and come up with ideas and comments. Which they did.

Officials formally called the forum a “charrette,” defined by dictionary.com as “a final, intensive effort to finish a project, especially an architectural design project, before a deadline.”

Before a presentation of the DPIC plan by Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich, many people had positive comments about revised plans for the parking lot, which would keep the cut-through road from Main Street to Post Road East. 

The plan under consideration by DPIC in June, which had sparked controversy, called for removing the road and eliminating 44 parking spaces. It was “paused” by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker to give the committee time to prepare the new option unveiled Tuesday.

“The access road between Main Street and Post Road has been re-established,” Donald O’Day, a Representative Town Meeting member from District 3, said after seeing the newest plan. “That’s a good start. It’s a non-starter without it.”

Grayson Braun, chair of the town’s Historic District Commission who lives near the downtown area, agreed. “I’m really here to make sure about the cut-through road,” she said. “It would take me at least 20 minutes longer to do everything without it. We’ll see what happens.”

Donna Douglass, the Historic District Commission’s coordinator, doesn’t live in Westport, “but I certainly use that road. It’s essential if you have to get to Norwalk from Town Hall.”

But others, including some members of the Westport Woman’s Club, didn’t see exactly what they were looking for in the new plan. They wanted to know how the Imperial Avenue parking lot, adjacent to the club, might be affected by overall strategy for downtown parking.

The town deeded “100 spaces in perpetuity in the lot” to the club, and its members wanted to be sure that their club would be taken into account under any new downtown plans, according to Christina McVaney, former president of the club. But plans presented Tuesday didn’t include that lot, essentially focused only on the Parker Harding lot.

Downtown merchants Gina Porcello, owner of GG & Joe coffee shop off Parker Harding Plaza, and Laureen Haynes, owner of the Chocolatieree shop on Church Lane, were not happy the new plan still would reduce the number of available parking spaces.

Sal Liccione, an RTM representative from District 9, which includes the downtown area, had one comment: “We still haven’t gotten the traffic study.”

Marilyn Harding, whose father Evan Harding designed the Parker Harding lot in the 1950s, said that her dream of using the Baron’s Park South property for more parking and retail space wasn’t evident anywhere in the latest plans. The town needs much more parking, and DPIC’s August plan still takes away parking, instead of adding it, she said.

“Right now I’m parked illegally because I couldn’t find a space,” she said. “It’s a crisis.”

After the meeting, many people said that although they thought it was a good presentation, they would take a “wait-and-see” attitude as the DPIC plans evolve. 

Robin Clark, current president of the Woman’s Club, said, “I think [the presentation] was great, but it’s still early for us” to find out how the Imperial lot might be affected.

Don Bergmann, who said he was involved in putting together a 2015 plan for Parker Harding, was happy with DPIC’s latest revisions. “I think the presentation was wonderful,” he said. “It’s just what the 2015 plan fully supported.

Larry and Mary Ann Grimaldi, residents of Westport for three years, live on Riverside Avenue and attended the meeting to learn the latest plans for downtown.

Mary Ann Grimaldi called the Saugatuck River “a gem … but we didn’t hear much about integrating the community as a whole” into the waterfront area.

Maxxwell Crowley, president of the Westport Downtown Association and a DPIC member, was pleased with the meeting turnout of more than 150 people.

“I thought it was a huge success,” he said. “It shows how passionate they are about the town and how much they care.”

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker called the gathering “an example of democracy in action,” giving citizens a good sense of latest plans for the parking lot.

Brian McGunagle, chairman of Westport Pride, said he looks forward to seeing plans for other parts of downtown, but said the new site plan “is as close as they can get to a compromise.” 

After the presentation, those attending circulated around the room, checking out the sequence of design plans posted on easels, and wrote ideas on cards for the committee to study.

The ideas and comments were as varied as the people attending the event. They included:

 “I feel your plan was a good compromise.”

“Remove parking from Jesup Green, and make it into a park. Westport has enough parking.”

“Respect waterfowl.”

“FEEDBACK,” in large letters.

The DPIC is expected to formally bring plans for the Parker Harding parking lot before town bodies this fall.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.