By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The Architectural Review Board recently sidelined the latest plans to replace the Police Athletic League clubhouse at P.J. Romano Field, between Saugatuck and Kings Highway elementary schools.

The plan was approved in April by the Planning and Zoning Commission, for an 8-24 request from the First Selectwoman’s Office. It also obtained approval from the Public Site and Building Committee in September.

But the ARB members on Tuesday questioned aspects of the latest design, a modernized New England saltbox structure.

“The current one-story field clubhouse was constructed in 1936,” said Anna Rycenga of LandTech. “And at that time, it was used for sports film sessions, Westport PAL meetings, storage of sports equipment and a concession stand.”

PAL leases 0.3 acres of the sprawling town-owned property between Riverside Avenue and Post Road West.

“Westport PAL’s plan is to demolish and rebuild the existing building,” Rycenga said. “It’s proposed as two stories with an ATV storage, the use of the building is for sports storage, a concession stand — there’s no prepared foods on site — meeting rooms, offices, scorekeeping area and an observation area.”

She said the plan will need Zoning Board of Appeals approval because the proposed structure is two stories, rather than the single story allowed for an accessory structure.

The latest iteration of the replacement building, designed by Beinfield Architecture of Norwalk, is in a traditional New England saltbox style.

“No matter what area of work we work in, we always try to create something that’s interesting, engaging, and hopefully something that captures the imagination of the user or someone passing by,” Brian Godard of Beinfield said.

“Looking at the immediate surrounding area, around the football field and the school, we can see that there’s a lot of traditional New England-style homes which complement Westport,” he said.

“The overall Connecticut saltbox form is intended to enable the modest building to be a quite positive contributor to the Westport landscape,” he said.

The ARB can be very particular. PAL, one of the town’s oldest youth organizations, got an unflinching review.

Member Vesna Herman had questions about the second-floor ribbon of observation windows, which would be used to observe and record games, and a band beneath that included the words “PAL Clubhouse.”

“You mentioned you are using New England traditional architecture and that element, where is it coming from. That detail perhaps?

“It’s traditional New England form,” said Seelan Pather of Beinfield. “As an office, we always try to abstract it just a little bit, to give it a slightly more modern, new take on it. That’s reinforcing the glass ribbon.

“The glass ribbon is an element, with the windows completely open, is not traditional,” he said. “But the trim below it reinforces that element of a continuous ribbon, band of windows, in a traditional style … a slight abstraction of the New England form.”

Chairman Ward French said he saw aspects of the structure as incongruent.

“It’s not the building that I would have expected,” he said. “And I just think that there’s a lot of incongruent pieces …”

Member Jon Halper said he appreciated what was trying to be done, “take a traditional New England saltbox, actually a saltbox residence, and sort of transform it into a commercial-use project.”

“I think the tension between the second-floor viewing area, the ribbon of windows and the very residential-ordered ground floor, is both interesting and disturbing at the same time,” he said.

Halper said he thought the design wasn’t appropriate for what it was, where it is.

“It just feels a little bit too precious, antique … it just doesn’t feel right for the activity that’s going to be happening there.”

“It just seems incongruous,” he said.

“I think the building’s really good,” French said. “I think we all agree that the functionality of the building for its intended purpose is terrific, I just think that it needs some tweaking.”

“I think if you cleaned it up just a little bit, made it a little less interesting and more suited to the purpose, you’d have something that would be a lot easier to approve,” he said.

French said he’d like to see the application come back at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19. An agenda has not yet been posted.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.