By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — If a groundswell of opposition exists to overturn the Planning and Zoning Commission’s rezoning of Saugatuck, it was not yet obvious, or was given little voice, on Tuesday.

The Transit and Planning and Zoning committees of the Representative Town Meeting met jointly online to come up with recommendations to the full RTM on how it should vote in response to a petition from the citizenry. If the full RTM were to approve the petition by a two-thirds vote, the rezoning amendment would be scuttled.

Text amendments, which could enable developer ROAN Ventures to undertake sweeping redevelopment of the waterfront neighborhood with a project called “Hamlet at Saugatuck,” were approved Dec. 12 by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

There were many questions from RTM members, some pointed, but more sounding neutral or optimistic.

And after more than five-and-a-half hours, the public still did not have its say.

At one point, more than 200 people were online for the meeting. They were told, several times by Matthew Mandell, District 1 and chairman of the RTM’s P&Z Committee, their input would likely not be possible until the next meeting.

As RTM members asked questions, and commented, and commented again and again, the number of other people attending dwindled.

By the end, only dozens remained online.

The meeting was held because more than 30 verified voters in town signed a petition asking the RTM to review a text amendment that made sweeping changes to zoning for the area roughly bounded by Charles Street, the Saugatuck River, Railroad Place and Franklin Street. Twenty signatures were needed to trigger the review.

The RTM, under the Town Charter, has the power to overrule the P&Z, but has to do so with a two-thirds vote — 24 of the 36 members, no matter how many are in attendance — within 30 days of the petition’s filing.

The zoning changes would enable construction (with a separate site plan approval) of the Hamlet at Saugatuck, a mixed-use development including a hotel, marina, restaurants, residential units (some affordable, on or off site), retail and more.

How testimony from the public at another joint RTM committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday might sway RTM members remains to be seen.

A previously planned meeting basically broke the town’s website, which capped online attendees at 100, forcing a postponement. The town has since upgraded its plan to 500.

Tuesday’s meeting included presentations by the petitioners, many of whom formed a group called the Westport Committee for Sensible Zoning; Planning and Zoning Chairwoman Danielle Dobin; and ROAN Ventures, the outfit proposing the Hamlet at Saugatuck.

The petitioners raised questions, including why an earlier, state-funded, $500,000 Transit Oriented District Study’s findings were disregarded, and how density, allowable heights and floor area ratios could be so markedly increased.

“On Dec. 12, 2022, the future of the heart of Saugatuck was forever changed with a simple voice vote by the Westport P&Z Commission,” said Rick Smilow of the Sensible Zoning group.

“This is arguably the most dramatic and consequential change to Westport zoning regulations in the long history of our town,” he said.

Joseph Vallone, a longtime Westporter and Saugatuck-based architect, is part of the Sensible Zoning group.

“We feel this is an egregious increase in density unlike anything I’ve seen in my career,” he said.

“I truly believe that this is something that is grossly out of scale for that neighborhood,” Vallone said. “And I’m very concerned about what our village atmosphere is going to feel like when these buildings are constructed.”

The group also showed a model of the development, a 3D representation of what they feel is possible under the approved amendment.

“We actually took the time to build a model,” Vallone said. “You can see that these buildings will pretty much dwarf the I-95 overpass.”

Peter Gold, District 5, questioned the block-like representations of the buildings in the group’s mock-up.

Dick Lowenstein, District 5, said he thought “the points made by the petitioners have not been effectively supported.”

Ross Burkhardt, Disctict 3, took issue with the Hamlet plan being likened to Co-Op City in the Bronx.

“We believe that your commission did a stellar job, giving us just enough to make this a viable project,” Eric Bernheim, a lawyer for the applicants, said of the P&Z decision.

He said the team would deliver a project that would transform Saugatuck, promising “a gem.”

Dobin, as she has said at previous presentations, told attendees that the future of Westport’s zoning is by no means entirely under town control.

The state’s 8-30g affordable housing legislation gives developers considerable leeway, and leverage, in municipalities that don’t meet state guidelines. Westport has a state-granted moratorium, but it expires March 4.

“We are protecting the Town of Westport,” she said. “In an ideal world, our local P&Z would have complete control over what can and can’t be developed in our town. Especially in an area with the level of traffic congestion and infrastructure that you see in Saugatuck.”

“But we live in the real world, and in the real world, state law specifically provides an off-ramp for developers to completely bypass local zoning regulations …,” Dobin said, leading to overly tall developments.

She said the town does not have the power to stop such developments filed under the 8-30g statute.

Dobin said the P&Z worked to prevent the possibility of an 8-30g development on the site by incentivizing a mixed-use development, including open space and other benefits for townspeople.

She said the state law already has had an impact in neighboring towns, and Westport as well.

Members of the ROAN team fielded several questions, including those about environmental remediation posed by Wendy Batteau, District 8.

Martin Purcell said 80 test borings have been done already, and that it is an early goal of the developers to remediate historic contamination.

At the tail end of Tuesday’s marathon session, Seth Braunstein of District 6, advocated for wider input.

“I really feel like we need to make a concerted effort to make sure the public doesn’t get shortchanged,” he said of Thursday’s meeting.

He argued unsuccessfully Tuesday that the meeting continue past midnight so RTM members could get their thoughts out and let others have a chance at the next meeting. He was backed by other members, including Sal Liccione, District 9.

“I really feel reticent to eat into public comment time,” Braunstein said.

Other RTM members clearly had grown weary, cranky exchanges ensued. Mandell went from moderator to referee, hushing some back to their corners and entertaining a successful vote to adjourn.

Thane Grauel, executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.