By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Adding 42 parking spaces — and a playground — on Jesup Green were two projects discussed Thursday as part of planners’ vision to revamp infrastructure south of Post Road East. 

Status of the plans, currently under review by town boards and commissions, was updated at a meeting of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee.

According to Randy Herbertson, the DPIC chair, and Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich, adding parking spaces at Jesup Green would:

• Help alleviate the shortage of parking downtown.
• Be important during construction phase of the redesigned Parker Harding parking lot because half of that lot will be closed while work on the other half is completed.
• Provide more parking for downtown business employees since some or all of the spaces will be for full-day parking.

According to the Jesup Green plan, new parking spaces would be adjacent to the front of the Westport Library, next to existing spaces, where the green is steepest. The loss of some green space would be temporary, Ratkiewich said, because the plan ultimately calls for adding green space next to the Saugatuck River where the Taylor parking lot is now.

If the plans win final approval, the addition of more parking at Jesup Green would be completed before the Parker Harding project begins, he said.

Loss of green space, funding questioned

Questions about several aspects of the project arose during the meeting.

Jennifer Johnson, a Representative Town Meeting member from District 9, said she does not like the loss of green space and what she called a “piecemeal” parking plan, which calls for temporary measures that later would change as various parts of the project are completed.

More parking has been identified as a major goal in the downtown project, Herbertson said, and the number of overall spaces was revised upward after merchants and the public criticized the loss of parking at redesigned Parker Harding Plaza.

“In the future, when we’re not considering a $100 million school project, maybe we will put in a parking structure,” Herbertson said, referring to plans being developed to build a new Long Lots Elementary School

It’s because of the Long Lots project and other capital projects the town may undertake in the next few years that a comprehensive project for downtown parking should be done all at once — and soon — Johnson responded.

“No one knows what this parking project is going to cost,” she said. If it’s not completed soon, she said, funding for later stages of the project may not be available.

Also questioning parts of the plan was Sal Liccione, another District 9 RTM member. He was concerned about removal of trees, and also said DPIC should take a census of employees at downtown businesses to be sure there will be enough parking for them.

Only four trees will be removed, Herbertson responded, and the condition of two of them requires their removal regardless of the parking project.

As for the issue of employee parking, DPIC member Maxxwell Crowley, president of the Westport Downtown Association, said there are approximately 1,200 people employed at downtown businesses. He said he will keep workers informed about the status of the parking project and changes in the location of spaces as plans move forward.

A new playground, possibly

Several DPIC members said they like Herbertson’s idea of building a playground on Jesup Green, possibly near the Saugatuck River. The project could be financed with about $300,000 remaining in the town’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act pandemic-era funds.

DPIC member Matthew Mandell, an RTM member from District 1, said building a playground would not be a good use of ARPA money.

However, other DPIC members noted that AARP funds had been used to build playgrounds at several of Westport’s schools. The group’s general consensus appeared to favor the playground proposal, although no vote was taken.

Room for community gardens too?

Kenneth Bernhard, a former state representative, had a different idea for future use of Jesup Green, which also was related to the Long Lots school project.

Noting that construction of the new school will destroy the current location of the Westport Community Gardens, Bernhard suggested, “We should move the community gardens to Jesup Green.”

No one at the meeting commented on Bernhard’s community gardens idea. The fate of the 20-year-old gardens has been a source of controversy for months, with the latest plans calling for the plots to be relocated to another spot on the Long Lots property after a new school is built.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.