By John Schwing
WESTPORT — Plans to build a new, larger state Department of Transportation maintenance building on Post Road East would not preclude a stalled town-sponsored affordable housing initiative on the property.
The state in January rolled out plans to build a new maintenance building, encompassing about 23,000 square feet and “at least” 17 vehicle bays, at 900 Post Road East, an 11-acre property where a roughly 8,000-square-foot facility and support buildings now stand.
About 1.8 acres of the property, bordered by West Parish and Hillandale roads, and Sherwood Island Connector, had been envisioned by town officials — with cooperation from the state — as the future site of an affordable housing project.
Funds for housing study OK’d, but never spent
The initiative, announced with fanfare in early 2022 as the town struggled to earn points to qualify for extension of its moratorium under the state’s 8-30g affordable housing statute, secured a $150,000 allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act money to conduct a feasibility study for a housing project on the West Parish Road side of the tract.
But nearly three years later, the study never took place amid a local and state bureaucratic haze.
Facing a use-it-or-lose-it deadline to spend ARPA funds by the end of 2024, town officials last November instead re-allocated that money to help pay for the $5.6 million project to replace the Mill Pond tide gates and walkway.
At the time, town Finance Director Gary Conrad told the Board of Finance that for the affordable housing feasibility study to go forward, the town will need to either use money from its own property fund, list it on the capital spending forecast or bond it.
The site on the DOT property earmarked for Westport’s affordable housing is still designated for the town’s potential use on state maps, Matthew Easdon, a state project engineer, told the Westport Journal last November.
And a DOT spokesman confirmed this week the new maintenance building “will not prevent local redevelopment projects on the site.”
Town officials, however, have taken no public steps to pursue the affordable housing initiative on the West Parish site for several years.
Project will replace 67-year-old DOT building
Meanwhile, the state is forging ahead with plans for its new DOT maintenance building, which is to be built on the eastern side of the property near Sherwood Island Connector.
Planned to replace a structure built in 1958, the new facility will be “built on an underutilized portion of the existing maintenance site and designed to accommodate future solar panel installations,” according to a DOT statement.
Although the old building, even with renovations, could not meet current-day capacity demands, the DOT said, portions of it “will be renovated for cold and warm storage of vehicles and equipment.”
The new facilities, featuring “expanded vehicle bays, modern administrative offices and rooftop solar,” are designed to enhance the DOT’s “operational efficiency, support the state’s sustainability goals and ensure seamless maintenance services for the region.”
John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.
Meanwhile, we need a place to build a maintenance shed. Furthermore, 176 post Rd. West could be acquired for affordable housing. Let’s go before these opportunities evaporate. (And maybe put an athletic field over near the maintenance sheds, and leave the community garden alone.)