By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–A hearing on a proposal to split the property at 41 Crescent Road for an additional three homes remained unfinished at the end of a Conservation Commission hearing last night, but when it will continue has not been decided.

Aiden Hayes and Maeve O’Connor, owners of the 1890 home on one corner of the 2.56-acre site, hope to divide it into four properties. Robert Pryor, chief engineer with LANDTECH, consultants for the owners, said the subdivided properties would be consistent with surrounding properties that subdivided long ago.

“Our site hasn’t changed one bit since pre-1934,” Pryor told the commission in Town Hall. As for the neighboring properties, he said, “clearly you can see they’ve all been developed, many during the (19)60s and 70s, as far as we can tell.”

But many residents fear that further development would damage wetlands and worsen flooding in the neighborhood.

“The site’s significant wetlands, combined with the existing drainage challenges in our area, make additional development particularly concerning from an environmental and flooding standpoint for which Heather Hill is impacted the most,” Heather Hill resident Alia Afshar wrote to the commission before the meeting.

He also was concerned about increased traffic from the added homes.

John Fallon, attorney for the owners, said the proposal would not make things worse for neighbors.

“This proposal is going to do nothing to exacerbate in any way those existing problems,  which result, at least partially, from the construction of the road in 1968, when my client was (about) six,” Fallon said. “So the bottom line is, we’re comfortable that we, in fact, can document that we are actually improving (the area) by reducing flows.”

At issue in the discussion was whether to put the proposal before the Flood and Erosion Control Board, an added layer of approval that could delay the continuation of the Conservation Commission hearing until autumn.

Fallon argued that it is not required or necessary and that Town Engineer Ted Gill should be consulted directly.

Joel Green, an attorney representing a coalition of 40 homeowners opposed to the proposal, encouraged the commission to send it to the Flood and Erosion Control Board.

“More input is better, more information is better,” he said, adding, “At the end of the day, I think all of us in this room are concerned with getting this right.”

Town Conservation Analyst Andrew Hally said he would reach out to Town Attorney Ira Bloom to discuss the Flood and Erosion Control Board’s potential involvement.

Much of the discussion centered on measures taken to control stormwater runoff and conserve wetlands, with measures such as a conservation easement and permeable drives on two of the added homes. The drive for the final home was planned as an impermeable surface, from which stormwater would wash into a retention basin.

Hally expressed concern that the water running off the surface would be too hot, and recommended ways of slowing and cooling it, including more vegetation, and a permeable surface for that drive as well.

An alternate plan to add 30 residential units under the state’s powerful 8-30g affordable housing law, which takes precedence over local zoning, was not discussed.

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}