By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The chimney and cupola have been removed from the long-stalled house construction project at 233 Hillspoint Road.

Building Official Steve Smith told the Blight Prevention Board on Thursday night that makes the owner eligible to obtain zoning and building permits to finally finish construction. The structure on Old Mill Beach has sat largely idle for years, entangled in zoning disputes and litigation.

When the board last discussed the property March 9, it gave the owner two weeks to remove the not-allowed features or face fines.

The deadline was missed by a week. Smith said the owner, who was not at the last meeting, thought work was supposed to commence within two weeks, not be finished within two weeks.

Smith said the owner could be fined, but …

“The good news is he did it,” Smith said. “He said he would do it, he did it, and he’s off the races now to get his zoning permit to complete the house, and then the building permit.”

“It was all put in that dumpster, that chimney was a lot of block,” said member Jeffrey Stewart.

“I think it was a poured-concrete chimney,” Smith said. “It took a lot of work to take that down.”

“I think it’s a mixed message here,” Chairman Joseph Strickland said. “We’re very disappointed that it took this long to get this resolved, and it took upsetting quite a few neighbors, that didn’t necessarily have to go through all the agita that they went through.

“But, all that said,” he added, “we’re appreciative that this has finally been accomplished and I hope we don’t run into any more issues on this house.”

He asked the board to keep it on their radar another month “to see how this evolves.”

“As long as he keeps working on this, he would not be subject to blight,” Smith suggested. “So I would say we keep it on until it doesn’t look blue and the windows are in the right places … so we just ask for monthly updates.”

“Let’s continue with that,” Strickland said. “I just wish it hadn’t taken this long, and this much emotional energy from the neighbors.”

The property in previous decades home to restaurants. It was being converted to a beachfront home, but the structure exceeded what was allowed in its zoning approval. Stop-work orders and litigation ensued for several years.

The blight board also heard an update on 35 Owenoke Park, where neighbors had complained about a junk pile in the driveway and debris elsewhere.

Smith said the driveway had been cleared. The board took the property off its agenda.

Thane Grauel, the Westport Journal executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond more than three decades. Learn more about us here.