By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The Board of Finance on Wednesday took its first look at a list of local projects to fund using federal American Rescue Plan Act money.

The federal government is allocating $8.4 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding to Westport over two years.

The Board of Selectmen has been shepherding the ARPA funding list, and the Board of Finance is giving input, and will have a say over each appropriation under the normal funding process.

Proposed projects include: bringing the Town Hall handicapped-access ramp up to current standards, a renovation of the Westport-Weston Health District headquarters, upgrades to parks and parking areas, boardwalk extensions on the Saugatuck River, reconstruction of a jetty at Burying Hill Beach, affordable housing initiatives, tree trimming and installation of bus shelters along the Post Road.

Recently removed from the list is $500,000 in Police Department technology upgrades. That project was eligible for other federal grants, so ARPA money could not also be used for it.

The money coming to Westport is part of $350 billion being disbursed nationwide to local, state, territorial and tribal governments to promote recovery from the pandemic.

Affordable housing, health district and Baron’s South bids questioned

The Board of Selectmen last month held a public hearing on the spending list. The meeting drew a large contingent of people living near Deadman Brook, which floods during heavy rains. Neighbors asked that some of the money be used to address that, or to somehow help them make their properties more resilient.

Funding for a new ambulance, capital improvements to The Saugatuck housing cooperative and a generator for the Gillespie Center were listed on a “Requested Additional Projects” frame in the presentation.

A few department heads were on hand, and answered questions from board members.

Finance Chairman Brian Stern noted that the Westport Housing Authority has typically not sought funding for projects from the town. He wondered why that model changed with the request to use $500,000 in ARPA money to start building affordable housing on property sought from the state Department of Transportation off West Parish Road.

Human Services Director Elaine Daignault said the pandemic has made the local shortage of affordable housing even worse, and that the Housing Authority has been working hard to secure the DOT parcel.

“I think this is a time to really put out money where our mouths are, so to speak,” she said, adding that the funding would get the project going much faster.

Stern also expressed concern about the $2 million proposed for renovation of the Bayberry Lane headquarters of the Westport-Weston Health District (renamed Aspetuck Health District as of next year). He asked for more details, and wanted to know what kind of planning for the health district’s long-term needs was being done.

Board member Lee Caney asked about the $500,000 for Baron’s South.

“What do they use it for? Is there parking there? What’s the master plan? What’s it going to look like?” he said.

“This one has confounded me for years,” he said of the town-owned open space. 

“I just don’t think there’s an overall thought about what we’re doing with it,” Caney said. “This has been kind of bumping along, from the time I started on the Board of Finance eight years ago.”

Setting priorities: From ‘sounds good’ to ‘rethink’

Near the end of the meeting, Stern summed up the ARPA priorities as he saw them, slotting each funding request into one of four categories: “Sounds good,” “sounds reasonable but needs more understanding,” “needs a lot more understanding” and “maybe we should rethink.”

Under “sounds good” he listed bus shelters, replacement generator for health district, human services funding, tree trimming and the Parker Harding/Jesup lot redesigns.

Under “sounds reasonable but needs more understanding” he listed the arts grants, Town Hall disability upgrades, Saugatuck River shoreline restoration, a Riverside boardwalk extension and drainage and flood work for a culvert and bridge over two streams. 

Under “needs a lot more understanding” he listed the health district headquarters renovation, broadband and cybersecurity upgrades, and the affordable housing funding.   

Under “maybe we should rethink” he listed the Burying Hill Beach jetty replacement, downtown “wayfinding,” the parks master plan and Baron’s South trail work. 

Stern said the finance board will hold a special meeting Oct. 20, and that he’d like a list of ready-to-go projects then that the panel could vote on allocating funds.

The Board of Selectmen plans to hold a second public hearing on the ARPA funding requests.