By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — Three committees of Representative Town Committee on Thursday endorsed using $150,000 of federal pandemic-relief money to explore the feasibility of affordable housing on West Parish Road.

The Finance, Health and Human Services, and Planning and Zoning committees each voted unanimously to forward the spending proposal — part of the $8.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding the town will receive — to the full RTM for a final decision. The Long Range Planning Committee did not vote.

The money would be used for pre-development costs, such as an architect’s design, various surveys and more.

Would help Westport meet affordable housing threshold

“There’s no question as to whether or not we need affordable housing,” Human Services Director Elaine Daignault told the committee members at a Zoom meeting. “We are lacking diversity in housing.”

Twenty to 30 units might be built on the property, owned by the state Department of Transportation, off Post Road East.

The state is willing to allow 1.8 acres of the 10-plus-acre DOT facility to be used for the housing project. Daignault said before the meeting the town is trying to secure more land. 

Most of the housing units, 80 to 90 percent, would comply with the state’s “affordable” criteria, she said.

A salt shed and another shed would be taken down to make way for the project.

The development would help Westport meet the standards for a future moratorium from the state’s 8-30g affordable housing law. 

The town has a little over one year left on its first four-year moratorium granted by the state for working to increase it stock of affordable housing. If a town has less than 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable, developers can use the state law to force approval of high-density housing. 

State would pick developer

The town is facilitating the project, but would not be in charge of it and would not formally acquire the land. The state Department of Housing is expected to put the project out to bid for a developer. 

The Westport Housing Authority, an agency that operates separately from town government, is expected to enter a bid. It has developed affordable housing in other parts of town.

“This is the right thing for us to be doing,” said RTM member Matthew Mandell of District 1. “Taking a piece of land that is not used … We can revitalize it and make it a better property in the right spot, and do the right thing for the town. Do the right thing for affordable housing.” 

“I am so happy to support this,” said Nancy Kail of District 9. “It’s not every day that the DOT has an extra piece of land lying around and they’re going to transfer it to the Department of Housing for use to develop affordable housing that we all desperately need.”

Neighbor wants to know more details

Bill Rubidge, a resident of West Parish Road, whose home would abut the project, said the portion of land the state is offering is wooded, and much of the year provides a buffer for neighbors to the DOT yard.

“Please do not assume that we are all behind this, until we know what this is,” Rubidge said, noting the feasibility study has yet to done, whether the housing will indeed be low-density and who the developer will be.

“Please understand … we won’t necessarily be as 150,000 percent in favor of this, as all of you seem to be, until we know what’s going to be built next to our house, behind our house, on our road. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves in our enthusiasm to embrace something that is undefined and might in fact be negative for us.”