By John H. Palmer

WESTPORT – The planned Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing on the “Hamlet” project in Saugatuck was canceled mid-meeting Monday evening after hosts lost control of the Zoom meeting when unknown hackers began to show graphically violent and pornographic videos to more than 100 people who had shown up.

The meeting began at 6 p.m., and the trouble began at around 6:45, while planners were in the middle of hearing a design presentation from John Fallon, attorney for the Fairfield County Hunt Club.

Originally brought to the town as an application for outdoor pickleball courts in 2023, the project was changed in 2024 to a 23,000-square-foot metal building that will not only house tennis and squash courts, but a pro shop and a small changing area as well as 9 parking spaces.

Things got strange when videos began to play depicting violent sexual acts, as well as videos with white supremacist messages and Nazi insignia. In addition, violent videos of graphic beheadings of what appeared to be prisoners in orange jumpsuits were seen by participants.

As the obviously mortified meeting hosts shut down one video, another would pop up almost instantaneously, requiring the meeting to be locked down so no one new could join the online hearing. At one point, half of the Zoom meeting’s participants were removed, and the meeting was capped at 56 people, down from about 110.

Hosts of the meeting needed to allow participants back in the meeting one at a time, in many cases depending on if they recognized the person attempting to join the meeting.

“We’re trying to decide if it’s safe to continue the meeting, or if it needs to be canceled,” said Chairman Paul Lebowitz as staff struggled not only to lock out new participants, but also to consult with IT staff about security procedures. Westport Police were also called to report the problem, and officers were reportedly on the way to Town Hall to speak with IT staff.

At 7:15 p.m., Town Attorney Ira Bloom came on to the meeting and was consulted as town planning officials tried to determine whether it was safe to continue the meeting.

“I’m worried some people might have assumed that was it for the night and not come back online,” he said.

There was some discussion as to whether the discussion surrounding the Hunt Club application should be allowed to continue.

“With those images in my mind, I’m not sure I want to vote on a pickleball court,” said Lebowitz. He finally made the call at 7:15, almost 30 minutes after the drama began, to close the meeting with apologies to the public and a promise to reschedule the Hamlet hearing to a later date.

“There is someone targeting our town,” he said, adding that police were investigating and would do an autopsy of the video to try to figure out who was behind the hacking. “If they do it once, they can do it again and there is no sense in subjecting us to whatever that was again.”

Confusion cleared up and future in-person hearing scheduled

Planners had originally planned to hold the first of the “Hamlet” public hearings on March 31, but attendees were confused when the hearing was abruptly rescheduled to Monday evening despite an officially posted P&Z agenda stating the public hearing on the Hamlet application would continue that evening.

Town meetings are required by law to be posted by legal notice. The exact language of the agenda posted to the town website for the March 31 hearing stated that the public hearing was “to be further continued on 3/31/25 without testimony to 4/7/25.” Many people had been confused by the language of the legal notice and had not been aware that the hearing had been canceled.

P&Z Chairman Paul Lebowitz addressed the confusion at the meeting before Monday evenings hearings commenced, adding that the commission had received multiple letters from residents requesting an in-person hearing on the Hamlet plan. The P&Z has held their meeting remotely since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Lebowitz noted, but because of popular sentiment the next public hearing will be on April 28 in the main auditorium of Town Hall.

“It will be a time to vent,” he said. “It’s time for a public forum in the auditorium, so we can all look forward to that. We’re going to ask you to come in and tell us why you like it, if you don’t like it, or whether you want something else.”

As it stands, the “Hamlet at Saugatuck” will consist of a multi-use development of 11 buildings, including retail, hotel and residential buildings between the Saugatuck River, Charles Street, Franklin Street and Railroad Place.

The developer also has agreed to provide 14 off-site affordable housing units under the plan.

Seven properties are currently under contract to be purchased if the application is approved:  601, 606 and 609 Riverside Ave., 2 and 16 Railroad Place, and 91 and 96 Franklin St. Not included at this point are: 21 Charles St., 40 Railroad Place, 36 Railroad Place and 611 Riverside Ave. Underground parking garages with 258 spaces are planned.

The development has been going through intense scrutiny since the commission got a first look at the developer’s plans on March 11. The developers have promised to work with zoning officials and citizens to create what they say will be a “welcoming, lively, sustainable and vibrant place along the Saugatuck Marina where people want to live, work, visit and explore.”

Developers have been tweaking the plans to help alleviate resident concerns about traffic concerns, and have been working to update planned traffic lights, updated traffic patterns, and have even proposed narrowing parts of Riverside Avenue to make it more pedestrian friendly and slow traffic.

Next steps in the Hamlet project

Town officials have hinted that they expect the application review process and public hearings to extend into late May and perhaps into June as they mull over the project and its various pieces. It’s unclear when rescheduled hearings will be held, given Monday evening’s dramatic events.

A 65-day application extension has been granted by the developer to allow the public hearing process, which by law must be completed by June 18. As of press time, no meeting has been scheduled for April 14 and the Hamlet proposal will not be on the April 21 agenda. The next scheduled public hearing on the project is set as an in-person session in the main auditorium of Town Hall on April 28 at 6 p.m.

John Palmer is editor of the Westport Journal, and has covered community news in Fairfield County and Massachusetts for over 30 years. He can be contacted at jpalmer@westportjournal.com.