By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT – The Planning and Zoning Commission held a two-hour executive session on Monday regarding pending litigation with Apple Montessori regarding the commission’s denial in July of an application for a school in a former bank building on Post Road East.

The commission came out of the executive session with no comment on the pending case. Town Attorney Ira Bloom said Tuesday that he could not attend the executive session, adding that he cannot comment on pending litigation.

124 kids

Apple Montessori School filed the case in Bridgeport Superior Court on Aug. 25, disputing the P&Z’s denial of a special permit for the school at 980 Post Road East. The school, designed to accommodate a maximum of 124 children at a former Bank of America Building, would have been adjacent to a Starbucks. The design also included a pool and play area behind the building.

The P&Z unanimously voted down the application on July 28, with Chairman Paul Lebowicz making the motion. One of the commission’s concerns about the project was that it would add congestion on Post Road East, where long lines of customer cars back up at the Starbucks location. 

P&Z: Not safe

“I do not believe the land use here will operate in a safe and efficient manner for the residents of Westport,” Lebowitz said at the July meeting, adding that he would welcome the school at another more suitable site in town. Each of the seven commissioners, Neil Cohn, Breanne Injeski, Amy Wistreich, John Bolton, Michael Calise and Michael Cammeyer, said they agreed with this assessment.

“It’s too much for the site,” Wistreich said during the July meeting, echoing Lebowitz’s comment that she would be happy to see the school somewhere else in town.

ARB OK’ed in MArch

The project was signed off by the Architectural Review Board in March when board chair Ward French called the design “a good, adaptive re-use of an old building.” The design included interior renovations and an addition through the enclosure of the covered drive-through area that served the former bank, and realigned parking.

P&Z held public hearings regarding the proposal at its May and June meetings. In May, commissioners inquired about traffic conflicts between the school and Starbucks and requested a peer review of a traffic study that Apple Montessori had provided. 

Traffic study passes peer review

The review, conducted by CDM Smith, concluded that the traffic study conformed to industry standards. According to court documents, the school would not cause any adverse traffic effects.

Neighbors speaking out at the June meeting also questioned the nature of the use, disagreeing that Apple’s program constitutes a school. The Montessori program would have provided curriculum for early learning, with infant/preschool through kindergarten age children.

The suit maintains that the commission’s denial was “illegal, arbitrary and in abuse of the discretion vested in it.” In the litigation, Apple Montessori is asking for the commission to approve the application or to “remand the matter with directions to approve it consistent with the law.”

Kerri Williams

^{_{Kerri Williams is an award-winning writer and journalist. She has worked as a reporter at the Norwalk Hour, as Living editor at the Darien News-Review, and managing editor for the Norwalk Citizen-News. For Westport Journal, she is a reporter as well as a gardening columnist, writing “Cultivating with Kerri.” She recently published her first children’s book – “Mabel’s Big Move,” based on her daughter with special needs.}}