By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Plenty of comments and competing opinions on how to address parking problems in the Jesup Green/Imperial lot area were aired Wednesday as more than 60 people gathered at a “charrette” sponsored by the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee to hear public feedback.

While a diverse range of views were heard on downtown’s chronic parking and traffic issues, many essentially appeared to feel, in one way or another, “Leave it like it is.”

“Leave Jesup Green alone. Don’t touch it,” said Michael Treadwell, who lives in the downtown area. “A parking structure in the Baldwin parking lot is the best choice.”

The Brooks Room at the Westport Library was circled with tables and easels displaying possible designs for parking in the Jesup Green and Imperial Avenue areas, including ideas for structured parking. Every display soon had numerous yellow sticky notes with comments left by the public.

Officials sought to dispel confusion over whether the town has the right to use the Imperial lot for parking or if it belongs to the Westport Woman’s Club at 44 Imperial Ave.

Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich said there are two parking lots abutting the club — an upper lot owned by the town, which was once a landfill, and a lower lot belonging to the club.

Confusion arose over the property when a lawyer representing the Westport Woman’s Club sent a letter Tuesday to the town stating that the club has control “in perpetuity” over “the Imperial Avenue lot.” Agreements in 1956 and 1968 between the town and the club, as the result of a land swap, set the foundation for that arrangement, the lawyer wrote.

But the town has never had any intention of using the lower club lot for any of its parking plans, according to Ratkiewich. All plans for the “Imperial lot,” as proposed by DPIC, are strictly for the upper town-owned lot, he said.

The Westport Farmers Market is held weekly in the town’s upper lot, with permission granted each year by the Board of Selectwomen, while the Yankee Doodle Fair,  a woman’s club event, is held annually in both lots, with the club getting permission from the town to use the upper lot.

“We’ve always had a working relationship with them,” Ratkiewich said of the club.

Another concern voiced by some attending the charrette is that downtown merchants have not been included in the planning process or among the special-interest focus groups interviewed by Colliers Engineering and Design, the consultant hired by the town to conduct the $26,000 study.

DPIC Chair Randy Herbertson, however, said merchants have been included in some of the process, and were welcome to attend the charrette. He called the east side of the Post Road, including the Jesup Green area, the “culture district,” where merchants are not major stakeholders. The current study is focusing on the culture district, he said. The other side of the Post Road, he labeled as the town’s ‘commerce district,” where many more merchants are located.

A tour around the charrette displays, reading the anonymously posted comments, underscored how many different concerns that different people have about downtown and parking problems.

One of the first comments posted read, “Don’t feed the birds,” suggesting that signs should be installed to protect wild birds. Several commenters proposed adding seating at the riverside, and others proposed that more lighting be installed in the Imperial lot.

One person called using the Imperial lot for municipal parking “a dumb idea. No one is going to park there and walk downtown,” while another comment on the same board read, “I use the Imperial lot all the time to get to the Levitt [Pavilion] and larger functions downtown.”

Brett Adams, who lives within walking distance of downtown, said if town officials were looking ahead 10 years or more, they should not be considering additional parking now. With the advent of self-driving and electric vehicles, and younger people’s propensity to use ride-sharing services, there will be fewer vehicles parking downtown in the future, he predicted.

A display of the Gillespie/Bay Street lot off Jesup Road attracted a trio with three different viewpoints. 

Olav Ekeberg, a Myrtle Avenue resident, said he believes that Westport should do what is often done in Europe: “Put it underground.” Then there is plenty of room for shoppers to walk around more freely, which is healthy. Pippa Bell Ader assessed the proposals in terms of whether the designs would have an environmental impact on the area, and the third person, Representative Town Meeting Kristin Schneeman from District 9, said she hopes that gathering more pubic opinions will result in improved plans. “This is a process,” she said. “We’ve been through this process before and ended up with a better product. I think it will be better in the end.” 

Many at the event agreed that the charrette was a good way to find out what the public thinks and wants when it comes to parking downtown.

Maxxwell Crowley, president of the Westport Downtown Association and a DPIC member, called it “just another step showing that the DPIC and the town are listening.”

Michael West, the Parks and Recreation Department superintendent, called it “an excellent opportunity to gather opinion from the public.”

David Waldman, owner of the Sconset Square and Bedford Square commercial complexes, said that any steps to improve downtown parking are welcome. He supports installing metered parking in the downtown area, he added. “That will pay for everything.”

First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said she was “thrilled to see so many people here. This is exactly why we do charrettes.”

The event, while comprehensive in gathering opinion, was also confusing, according to Richard Lowenstein, a District 5 RTM member. “It’s a good idea,” he said of the charrette, “but I don’t know how it’s going to come together.”

State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg credited the forum with giving “people a chance to put alternatives on the table.”

But parking problems in Westport have been discussed decade after decade, he said, and, “It’s really important that we do something about it now.”

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.