By Thane Grauel
WESTPORT — This town isn’t known for an abundance of unused building lots, but might soon have one less.
Architect Lucien Vita has applied to build a multilevel house on a .09-acre sliver of land between Riverside Avenue and the Saugatuck River. It needs Coastal Area Management site plan approval.
No. 79 Riverside Avenue was made a building lot in 1922, 15 years before the town adopted subdivision regulations, according to zoning records. It has never been built upon.
The property abuts the riverfront Eloise A. Ray Park, across from the bottom of Lincoln Street.
“The site has numerous challenges and conditions to work within, including non-conforming lot size and shape, steep slopes, tidal wetlands, WPLO, FEMA flood zone, and Coastal Jurisdiction Line,” Vita wrote to the commission, referencing the town’s Waterline Protection Line Ordinance and the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
“Rather than using the above hardships to seek a variance to build outside of what regulations allow, the owners were committed to designing a very small home that would comply with all regulations, while causing as little disturbance to the surrounding land as feasible,” Vita wrote.
He also said care would be taken to stabilize steep slopes, and to replace invasive species with native plantings.
The new house would have just 542 square feet of building coverage, perhaps explaining the owner’s business name, Tiny House 79 LLC.
The project has approvals from the Flood and Erosion Control Board and the Conservation Commission.
Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.
This is a puff piece article on behalf of an advertiser of Westport Journal. The real story is this is a disaster for Eloise Ray Park, the Saugatuck River and the surrounding neighborhood. Yes, 79 Riverside Avenue has been undeveloped property – it is .09 acres. The property was a boat slip for one of the houses across the street and the previous owner tried to build on it, but was denied by Westport Town Zoning Board of Appeals.
The giant oak tree that is the centerpiece and the other four trees on the land will be destroyed along with their root system to be replaced by a
4-story Jenga like silo. The sea bushes that protect the riverbank will be destroyed. Eagles that perch in the trees while fishing on the river will lose their habitat.
At some point we have to say STOP to builders who slither through zoning regulations and destroy the environment. Common sense says this should NOT be allowed. The Planning and Zoning Commission must act as stewards of our environment and DENY this application. The Town should buy the land for what the developer paid for it and keep it from encroaching on the Town park and destroying the river ecology.
Louis M. Mall
RTM D2
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