By John Schwing

WESTPORT — The Planning and Zoning Commission, in the wake of the last month’s municipal election, chose new leadership and welcomed two new members Monday night.

And one of the new members revived an old debate, suggesting the P&Z — for a second time in two years — change the schedule for its regular meetings.

Commission members, conducting their post-election organizational meeting via Zoom, elected Paul Lebowitz as chairman — marking his return to the post after serving in the seat from 2017-19.

He replaces Danielle Dobin, a Democrat who left the P&Z after being elected to a Board of Finance seat in the Nov. 7 election.

Lebowitz, an unaffiliated voter endorsed by Democrats, was re-elected Nov. 7 with the most votes of any candidate seeking a seat on the commission. He had been serving as the panel’s vice chairman.

“He has done this in the past,” Michael Cammeyer, the commission secretary, noted in nominating Lebowitz for the chairmanship.

“He has done a great job,” said Cammeyer, a Democrat. “He always comes to the meeting ultra-prepared, ready and willing to ask any question, while listening, being respectful, being responsive.”

In seconding Lebowitz’s nomination, Democrat Neil Cohn called him “a stalwart of the P&Z,” and added, “All of us would have a much tougher job if we didn’t have Paul there.”

Like basketball star LeBron James, Cohn added, Lebowitz’s all-around abilities make “all of your [P&Z] teammates better.”

The vote to install Lebowitz as chairman by the four other commissioners at the meeting was unanimous. Recently re-elected Republican commissioners Amie Tesler and Patrizia Zucaro were not in attendance.

Cohn was then nominated by Lebowitz to serve as vice chairman, while newly elected Republican Michael Calise nominated Zucaro for the post.

But when no one seconded Zucaro’s nomination, Calise joined the other commissioners in voting for Cohn to be vice chairman.

Cammeyer was then re-elected secretary without opposition.

Earlier in the meeting, the commissioners endorsed the recommendation of the Democratic Town Committee to appoint Amy Wistreich, a Zoning Board of Appeals member, to fill the remaining two years left on Dobin’s term.

Wistreich “reads, she thinks, she’s going to be a wonderful addition … and she’s fair,” Lebowitz said in formally nominating her. The appointment was approved unanimously.

Meeting date debated … again

After the general harmony over selecting the P&Z’s leadership for the coming year, a note of disagreement was sounded when the commissioners discussed their projected meeting schedule for 2024.

Calise suggested the P&Z consider rescheduling its regular meeting dates from Monday nights to Thursdays, which had been the usual day for the commission’s meetings until early 2022.

When the P&Z switched to Monday nights, the day and time conflicted directly with Board of Education meetings, prompting some public criticism of the change.

The school board subsequently decided to move its regular meeting dates to Thursday night as of last August.

Calise, however, said meeting Thursdays would help facilitate the process for the P&Z to review applications acted on by the ZBA, which meets Tuesday nights. The change also would give applicants four weekdays to better prepare their presentations prior to a P&Z hearing.

“If you are an ordinary citizen and you hear about something on the weekend, there is very little you can do about it,” he said, with respect to learning about an application before the P&Z acts on it Monday.

Lebowitz said that P&Z members had voted to change the regular meeting date because Mondays are a better fit for their schedules, an assessment that Cohn and Cammeyer shared.

Calise, however, interjected: “Isn’t it true that you’re here to serve the public, not to serve yourself?”

Cohn pointed out that serving on the P&Z is a voluntary job, and that in order for people to serve while maintaining full-time jobs and other schedule commitments, he and others find that weekends offer a better opportunity to review documents pertaining to applications that come before the commission Mondays.

“To say that we are not trying to serve the public — there is no other reason why any of us would do this … this is a lot of hard work” Cohn said.

The P&Z’s current meeting schedule allows for a good balance between commissioners’ work and their personal lives, he added.

Wistreich pointed out that applications acted on by the ZBA do not routinely “get walked down the hall to the P&Z” for immediate review.

Lebowitz also remarked that prior to making the change to Mondays, more commissioners missed Thursday night sessions than do now.

Although Calise said he strongly disagreed with fellow commissioners’ opinions about Monday night meetings, he voted with the others to approve the 2024 meeting schedule as proposed.

John Schwing, the Westport Journal consulting editor, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.