By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Few surprises emerged from results of a survey on downtown parking released Thursday by the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, but despite the familiar issues the committee’s meeting dissolved into a shouting match.

 Much of the information gathered from the 1,955 responses to the online survey, plus meetings with focus groups, stakeholders and a “charrette” open house, reflected the same opinions expressed throughout the current planning process for downtown parking improvements. Some were the same views about the chronic parking and traffic problems that have been debated over many years.

What was surprising, however, was disagreement between some members of the committee and the public attending the Thursday morning meeting.

Results of the $26,000 survey as presented by Jacob Robison, with Colliers Engineering and Design, the consultant hired to conduct the survey, included responses to questions about parking in three major areas of downtown: Jesup Green, the Imperial Avenue parking lot and the Main Street area.

Jesup Green

The vast majority of respondents wants Jesup Green to remain green — and many surveyed would like to see the green made even larger and greener. 

“Leave Jesup Green alone” was the most common comment recorded by the survey, Robison said. 

Parking adjacent to the waterfront in the Taylor lot takes away from the waterfront and should be removed and converted to green space, many respondents also said. The riverfront path adjacent to the Westport Library should be widened, the trees better maintained and a kayak launch and more plantings added, respondents also said.

There was, however, not much support for adding a playground on Jesup Green, according to Robison.

Imperial lot

The majority opinion of those surveyed was that the Imperial Avenue lot is used by visitors to several venues, including Westport Farmers Market, Westport Woman’s Club, Levitt Pavilion and the library. But the lot is too far from Main Street to be routinely used by downtown shoppers and diners, the survey indicates.

Those surveyed also wanted better lightning and an emergency telephone installed in the lot for better security because of its distance from the Post Road corridor.

Other requests to improve the Imperial lot include improved access and widening the shoreline pathway along the edge of the lot, ADA accessibility for the disabled to the library and Levitt areas and signs with better directions for drivers to the lot from downtown.

Downtown parking

The Colliers survey also asked respondents about their preferred location for building a parking structure, despite a $46,900 contract with BFJ Planning for a feasibility study of downtown parking options, including whether and where to construct a parking structure.

The Colliers survey asked respondents to choose from three possible parking structure locations: the Baldwin lot off Elm Street, the Gillespie parking lot on Jesup Road and the Police Department headquarters lot, assuming it is moved elsewhere as part of a consolidated public safety facility. The latter option is the topic of another study.

The Baldwin site for a parking deck won hands down, according to Robison, with 49.58 percent of respondents favoring that location, 21.27 percent naming the police station as the best location and 15.37 percent selecting the Gillespie lot as the best site.

Survey takers also approved of downtown parking time limits remaining at three hours, and of the current balance between the number of short-term and long-term spaces downtown. 

The majority, however, did not support paid parking at all, and would consider walking only about 3 to 5 minutes from a parking area to their destination.

After presentation of the survey responses, Matthew Mandell, a DPIC member and Representative Town Meeting member from District 1, asked why the Colliers survey was carried out before the BFJ survey, specifically on the issue of choosing locations for a parking structure.

People responding to the Colliers survey should have known results from the separate parking structure study before giving their opinion, Mandell said.

“We spent a lot of money on something that I don’t think is valid,” he said of the survey discussed at Thursday’s meeting.

Another member of DPIC, Ken Bernhard, said history has repeated itself when it comes to tackling Westport’s downtown parking issues. “I predict we’re going to be here ten years from now,” he said of unsuccessful efforts to resolve the problem over the years.

Bernard also was adamant that, “We have to move the police station” to provide more parking, a statement met with opposition from some members of both the committee and public in attendance.

The discussion then turned quickly to the safety of pedestrians crossing Post Road East to the Main Street area, with disagreement over how safe it is, and an angry complaint from a member of the public about DPIC’s lack of transparency.

After shouting back and forth erupted between members of the public, including some Representative Town Meeting members, and the committee members, Chairman Randy Herbertson called for order and quickly adjourned the meeting.

Results of the survey are posted on the DPIC website.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.