By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Two applications for facilities catering to the town’s children were reviewed — and approved — by the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday.

Chabad day care OK’d

Chabad Lubavitch of Westport applied to the P&Z to add day-care facilities to the religious organization’s building at 79 Newtown Turnpike, the site of the former Three Bears Restaurant. Presenting the application for Chabad was Cathy Walsh, a former P&Z chairwoman.

Chabad, which has been in town for 25 years, purchased the Newtown Turnpike property in 2013. It sought permission to add a 35-student day care on the property, Walsh told the P&Z.

The building currently is used for religious services, Hebrew school and adult education. Chabad also runs an off-site summer camp.

“As the result of COVID, there has been a large influx of families,” Walsh said. “They’ve asked to have early childhood education there.” 

After the P&Z approval, the group will request state licensing for the center, which Walsh called “a long and convoluted process.” Chabad must also work with the town’s Fire Department, Building Department and Zoning Board of Appeals during the licensing process, she said.

The P&Z discussed the safety of children in the four classrooms proposed for the day care, as well as in the parking lot that will be used both for adult programs and a dropoff and pickup point for the preschool.

P&Z member John Bolton said he was concerned about the preschoolers’ safety since outside exits are required for each classroom.

“Give recent developments, I’m concerned about egress to the outdoors,” he said. “Is any consideration being given to enhanced security?” He mentioned adding security cameras or computer-monitored doors to the building.

There is a security plan already established for the day care, Walsh said, but it won’t be disclosed for safety reasons. 

Safety of children in the parking lot was also a concern for some P&Z members, particularly since Chabad is located at the busy Route 33 intersection. 

Typically, children are either walked in and out of a day-care facility by parents or they queue up in their cars at the entrance where staff escort youngsters in or out, according to P&Z Chairwoman Danielle Dobin.

Given the amount of traffic at the intersection, she favored the first method to avoid a line of cars snaking out of the property and onto Route 33, she said.

Police Officer Alan D’Amura, the public safety officer for Westport police, also had requested a more detailed plan on picking up and dropping off children at the site, Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young told the P&Z.

Although Chabad was applying to the P&Z to allow joint use of the same parking lot for adult and day-care programs, that would not be a problem, Walsh said, since the respective activities take place at totally different times. Religious services and other adult programs occur in the evening and weekends, while the day care would operate from 8 a.m. to noon weekdays, with a possible one-hour extension.

“There will not be children in the parking lot,” Walsh said. The lot has more than 100 spaces, she added, and is mostly empty during the day.

The commission unanimously approved the day-care plan, but included several stipulations, including that the applicant submit a dropoff and pickup plan to police, and that the fire marshal determine if all of the classrooms comply with fire regulations including proper exits.

PAL lease for P.J. Romano facilities approved

A long-standing lease arrangement with the Westport Police Athletic League also was approved by the P&Z on Monday. 

The town-owned property at 170 Riverside Ave. adjacent to Saugatuck Elementary School “has been leased to PAL since 1969,” Assistant Town Attorney Eileen Lavigne Flug told the P&Z. 

The P.J. Romano property includes several athletic fields, tennis courts, a field house and a parking lot, and is currently used for football, flag football and lacrosse, according to PAL officials. 

The 20-year lease with two five-year extensions for $1 per year is similar to leases the town gives other nonprofits, such as Homes with Hope, which leases town-owned property for its program to aid the homeless, according to Flug, who presented the PAL lease plan to the P&Z.

Ensuring that security and fire safety measures are in place at the field house was a concern of both the fire marshal and the P&Z.

Police Officer Craig Bergamo, the PAL president, said a security check of the field house had been completed. “We do a run through on the security system to make sure it’s up to date. That has been done,” he said, and security and fire safety questions posed by the fire marshal have been addressed. 

The fire marshal required that cooking appliances once used for a concession stand be removed from the field house and that the fireplace not be used. There will not be a kitchen or concession stand and cooking equipment has been removed, Bergamo said. The organization also plans to renovate the field house within the next year after a fundraising campaign to pay for the work, according to Catrina Hegarty of PAL.

Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young asked PAL officials to consult with Flug again once they had drawn up a list of improvements they intend to make to determine if additional town approvals will be required. 

The P&Z unanimously approved the lease details. “The P&Z is required to review leases under CGS 8-24 and issue a positive or negative report. This is done before the lease goes to the Board of Selectwomen for approval, which will be June 22,” said Flug.

Vote on affordable housing plan upcoming

At the end of the meeting, Dobin reminded P&Z commissioners and the public that a critical Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on the town’s draft Affordable Housing Plan will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, June 27, when the panel will review and possibly adopt the plan. The meeting will take place online, she said. 

Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.