By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Plans to enlarge the hotel proposed on the site of the former Westport Inn and another change for the new Amazon Fresh supermarket’s sign won positive reviews Tuesday from the Architectural Review Board.

But renovations to the Bridge Square shopping center got a negative reception.

Hotel rooms doubled, condos cut

A major change in the proposed Delamar Westport hotel design — increasing the number of hotel rooms from 41 to 85 and eliminating 10 condominium units and their garages from an earlier proposal — met with approval from the ARB. Initial plans for the project were detailed in April.

The revised plan for a new hotel and restaurant, to be built on the site of the former Westport Inn at 1595 Post Road East, reduces the impervious area on the property. It also would increase the landscaped buffer between the hotel and the Post Road, according to Sawyer de Moll, the architect presenting the project.

Although all the board members liked the building design, which includes demolishing the front of the existing structure and adding a new wing, they were not pleased with the landscaping plan.

Manuel Castedo, a new member on the ARB who is an architect, said he hopes two large oak trees at the front of the property could be saved instead of removing them and replacing them with ginko trees as called for in the landscaping plan. 

Keeping the oaks, and using other trees more compatible to the natural landscaping, would be better, Castedo said. “It would give more of an established look to the place and would really enhance your project.”

The ARB agreed, and approved the hotel plan unanimously with the condition that the large trees in front of the building be saved, if possible, and that a new landscaping plan with other types of trees, instead of ginkos, be prepared.

A formal application for the Delamar Westport project has yet to be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Amazon Fresh sign revised … again

The sign for the new Amazon Fresh supermarket at 1076 Post Road East was first brought to the ARB in January, when neighbors complained the sign would be too bright and too visible from Iris Lane, the street behind the store property. The supermarket will replace the former Barnes & Noble store in the Post Plaza shopping center.

The ARB members agreed and rejected the corporate giant’s green-and-white “smiling arrow” sign, asking that the sign be smaller and the logo be redesigned from a vertical to a horizontal format.

The designer, Gary Potts, returned to the ARB again in April with a smaller, horizontal sign that was to be placed on the store’s canopy over the door. 

Although the ARB members approved of the new design, the project engineer did not, saying the sign could not be mounted as planned.

So Potts returned Tuesday with a horizontal sign now acceptable to the engineer. 

The ARB voted unanimously to approve the revised sign, apparently putting the sign issue to rest.

A Bridge Square too far?

Remodeling the exterior of the Bridge Square shopping center in Saugatuck is already half completed, but board were not entirely happy with the work when they reviewed the project Tuesday. 

The yellow-and-green color scheme replacing the darker barn boards on the buildings, an entry with a classical Greek look and the proposed signs all raised concerns among board members. 

The board asked the project’s architect and property owner to come back to the board for further review.

The project’s goal is to provide “a huge energy upgrade for the whole complex,” and to improve the exterior of the buildings which need repairs, architect Peter Schuerch, told the board.

ARB Chairman Ward French, saying he understood the need for an upgrade, told Schuerch he could not grasp why the historic buildings had been painted green and yellow.

“I’m surprised we didn’t see this before,” French said. “This is a very important complex … It’s a gem of a spot.”

ARB member Vesna Herman agreed, adding that one of the entries has been designed in a classical motif that does not fit the overall New England style of the buildings’ appearance. “There’s a classical look to that entrance,” she said. “It’s not like the rest of it.”

“The corner entrance is a weak link” and should be designed to look less classical, board member Jon Halper said.

The board voted to ask property owner Robert Meyer to return with a new color scheme for the buildings, a redesigned entry canopy not in the classical style, and a revised plan for signs at the shopping center.

Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.